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LIFE ^7yS>A 

^2 



Matthew Hale Carpenter, 



VIEW OF THE HONORS AND ACHIEVEMENTS THAT, IN 

THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, ARE THE FRUITS 

OF WELL-DIRECTED AMBITION AND 

PERSISTENT INDUSTRY. 



By frank a. flower. 



:3 / 



^^. -J-.- 




p) 

MADISON, WIS.:^^ 
DAVID ATWOOD AND COMPANY. 
1883. 



El(^ 



■' r 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-three, 

By frank a. flower, 

in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



DAVID ATWOOD, 

PRINTER AND eTERSOTYPEB, 
MACHSON, wia. 



A PREFATORY NOTE. 



It is to be hoped no one will be deceived by the volume in 
hand. Its homely garb has no ambush of promise or pre- 
tense. It is not a scarlet banner sent out to infuriate the 
Tauri, nor a literary performance to challenge the vivisectors 
in the arena of criticism. Nor has the author uncovered 
his head for the meeds and bays of those who, kindlier if not 
wiser, pass through the fragrant garden of literature point- 
ing out only what is good or beautiful. It is only a humble 
tribute, designed to serve until something better and more 
fitting shall take its place. Nothing could be less; the 
author begs the belief that it is nothing more. But there 
shall be no apology. He will not assume such a dishonor as 
that, having been able, he yet neglected to do better. He 
has, so far as he knows, under the circumstances, done the 
best he could. 

Numerous difficulties in the way of compiling this volume 
have intervened. Some of them were not successfully sur- 
mounted, but all have been cheerfully met. Carpenter kept 
no journal, and those private documents and papers so 
necessary to secure a correct view of his career, were scat- 
tered and destroyed during the latter portion of his life, or 
after his death, by a train of untoward circumstances. The 
unreliability of human memory and the warped accounts of 
partisan newspapers, the only other sources from which the 
author could draw for much of his information, will account 



4 A PREFATORY NOTE. 

largely for the lack of fullness and exactitude of detail that 
may be apparent. But all other faults spring directly from 
the author's own inexperience, poverty of words and dearth 
of idiomatic expression. These defects hampered his labors 
even more grievously, it is to be hoped, than they plague the 
pages which follow. Add to them the multifarious duties to 
which, in the struggle for daily bread, he was compelled to 
devote attention, together with the fact that the volume is 
the result of lamp-light toil and hours snatched from the 
periods of needed rest, and the short-comings of the offering 
will appear, if not less conspicuous, certainly not more offen- 
sive. An endeavor has been made to have all statements 
clear and understandable. In this perhaps such success has 
been attained as will suffice for those who follow these pages 
for what may be discovered in them concerning Carpenter. 
If so, there is little left to be desired. 

The career of our subject in Congress has been somewhat 
closely followed. It was no less impossible than unnecessary 
to embellish the chapters thereon with excursive digressions 
and free descriptions ; yet they will nevertheless be found the 
most interesting, as they certainly are the most valuable sec- 
tions of the publication. Sometimes the traveler will hesitate 
about penetrating a great forest whose paths are strange to 
him; but once entered, he will find in its deepest recesses and 
remotest aisles, those rare flowers, rich perfumes and unriv- 
aled songsters that never grace common groves and plains. 

Perhaps the quotations from the writings and speeches of 
the subject are more liberal than is usual in a single volume 
of this character; but time will undoubtedly prove the value 
of such a plan. It shows with greater clearness and authen- 
ticity what he thought, and how he expressed those thoughts, 



A PREFATORY NOTE. 5 

upon vital subjects to which he gave 'attention, than could 
be done by the most expert re-composition. The estimates 
placed upon him by the foremost men of modern times, have 
also been interwoven with the narrative. This is in some 
sense a new departure, but it is a bulwark behind which the 
author can successfully defend himself from any charge that, 
having become intoxicated with his subject, he elevated Car- 
penter one jot above his rightful place as a lawyer, as a 
statesman or as a genius. 

Herein the paths may be crooked and the hedges gro- 
tesquely planned or inartistically trimmed; yet no one ever 
discarded the rose because it budded among thorns, or re- 
fused to harvest corn because it grew in crooked rows. 
Take this volume as a conscientious compilation of some of 
the sayings and doings of a splendid genius and a great heart, 
and for nothing more. Those doings and sayings will be no 
less fresh and authentic because not surrounded by the 
pyrotechnics of literature and the pretensions of ambition. 

FRANK A. FLOWER. 
Madison, December, 1883. 



Milwaukee, Wis., December i, 1883. 
David Atwood & Co., Publishers: 

Dear Sirs — I have thoroughly examined the Biography of my hus- 
band, the late Matthew Hale Carpenter, by Frank A. Flower, and so far 
as I have personal knowledge of the facts therein related, they are 
correct. The remainder comes from sources that are considered trust- 
worthy. Indeed, I am aware of nothing in the volume that is not 
essentially reliable. Truly yours, 

Caroline Carpenter. 



CONTENTS. 



LIFE OF MATTHEW HALE CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER I. 

A Rugged Birthplace 13 

An Ancient Family 15 

The Carpenters in America. ... 19 

Childhood 22 

Chopping Wood 27 

Schoolmaster Miller 27 

Holding Funerals 29 

A Flood in Moretown 31 

Webster's Reply to Hayne 31 

CHAPTER II. 

At Paul Dillingham's 34 

A Letter from Dillingham .... 38 

Two Years at West Point 39 

Class Standing 41 

Letters from Classmates 42 

A Report on Discipline 4-1. 

Again at Dillingham's 45 

Testing Oratorical Powers 46 

CHAPTER III. 

A Journey to Boston — Rufus 

Choate. ... 48 

Tantalizing Clerks 49 

Favor in Choate's Eyes 49 

Writes an Opinion Worth $100. 50 

Enters Choate's Family 51 

Credit at Little, Brown & Co.'s. 53 

Preparing to Leave Boston. ... 54 

Tender Gratitude 55 

CHAPTER IV. 

Settling in Wisconsin 57 

Disappointed in Beloit 58 

Rents an Office 59 

Social Advancement 61 

Trains a Military Company. ... 62 

CHAPTER V. 

A Long Period of Darkness ... 64 

In New York 66 

The Angel Mother 67 

A Friendly Polyphemus 68 

The True Philosopher 69 



A Visit to Vermont 72 

Returns to Beloit 72 

A Beautiful Incident 74 

A Partnership 75 

Bundy's Recollections 75 

CHAPTER VI. 

Fair, "White Milwaukee 78 

Newcomb Cleveland's Engage- 
ment. 4 79 

Lake Michigan's Eternal Mur- 
murs 81- 

CHAPTER VII. 

Beginning the Law 82 

Chaffing Blaine and Sumner. .. 83 

Whips His Grandfather 84 

Carpenter against Edmunds ... 85 

First Cause in Wisconsin 87 

Letter from E. N. Baldwin 88 

An August Body 89 

Letter to His Wife 90 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Excitement at Beloit 91 

An Increasing Practice 94 

The Mormons 95 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Bashford-Barstow Broil. . . 97 

A Racy Opening 98 

Withdraws Irom the Case 100 

No Fee loi 

CHAPTER X. 

Conspiracy against Booth 102 

Murder of Father Richmond.. 104 

Judge Gilbert's Letter 105 

Test-oath Cases 106 

CHAPTER XI. 

The McCardle Case 108 

Miller's Radiant Face 109 

A Powerful Argument 112 

Letter from Edwin M. Stanton 113 

" A Fearful Whirl " 115 



8 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Trial of W. W. Belknap 117 

God Grants a New Trial 119 

A Tragic Scene 123 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Electoral Commission 125 

Zach. Chandler's Neglect 126 

A Fraud as Good as a Majority 130 

" Wet in the Passage " 131 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Miscellaneous Causes 132 

Military and Martial Laws. ... * 132 

Myra Bradwell 133 

The Slaughter-house Cases 134 

The Whisky Cases 136 

The Louisiana Lottery 137 

Mrs Stephen A Douglas 138 

The North- Western University. 139 

Great Cases 140 

CHAPTER XV. 

A Battle with Corporations .... 142 

State Fair Oration of 1869 144 

Enemies Appear 149 

A Test Case 151 

Inter-state Commerce 153 

The Potter Law 154 

Governor Taylor's Proclamation 155 

Midnight Research 156 

An Ebullition of Slime 157 

Charnel-house of Corporations 158 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Admission to the Bar 162 

Law Partners 163 

Partnership Infelicity 165 

CHAPTER XVII. 

United States Supreme Court. . 167 

An " Eye on Old Chase " 169 

No Limit to Praise 170 

Justice Joseph P. Bradley's Trib- 

ute 171 

An Estimate by Justice Samuel 

F.Miller 172 

CHAPTER XVIII, 

Attributes and Tributes 174 

Professional Industry 175 

Methods of Labor 176 

An Office in a Baggage Car ... 178 

Work Without Pay 17S 

Professional Estimates iSo 

" An Immense Man " i8i 

David Davis and J. S. Black. . . 182 

CHAPTER XIX. 

A Sprinkling of Politics 183 

Machine Politicians 183 



His First Office 1S4 

The Missouri Compromise 186 

Again in Office 187 

Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. . 188 
Letter to Samuel Crawford .... 189 

Dodging the Flood 190 

Stephen A. Douglas 191 

CHAPTER XX. 

Country, not Party — Rebellion 193 

The First Gun 194 

" My Soul's in Arms " 196 

Welcoming the Minute-men... 197 
Party vs. Patriotism — Letter to 

Isaac Woodle 199 

" Sweep Slavery Away " 202 

Going to Enlist 205 

Declining Congressional Hon- 
ors 206 

A Change of Front 208 

The Immortal Decree 208 

Only Two Parties 211 

The Ryan Address 212 

Jackson and Washington in 
War 213 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Revolt against the Draft 217 

Stanton's Stay-at-home Order . 218 

More Gospel of Patriotism 219 

A Famous Letter 221 

The Returning Throb of Early 
Love 228 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The Janes ville Convention 230 

Divorce a Vinculo Matrimonii. . 232 

Another Call 232 

McClellan and Pendleton 234 

Circumcision Without Regener- 
ation 235 

The Ancient Springs 237 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Reconstruction — Negro Suf- 
frage 239 

Speech at the Sherman Banquet 

in Janesville 240 

The Votaries of " My Policy " . . ^43 
Respects to James R. Doolittle. 245 

Immortal Logic 245 

" Good for the Negro " 249 

The Democracy Agitated 250 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

First Senatorial Campaign 252 

Starting the Ball 253 

A. M. Thomson's Encyclical 

Letter 254 

Boyish Embarrassment 255 

Supporting Grant 257 



CONTENTS. 



Robust Recruits 259 

The Good Parsons 261 

Prize Declamations 262 

Befuddled Competitors 263 

Behind the Scenes 264 

The Fifth Ballot Brings Suc- 
cess 265 

An Ovation 267 

Confirmed • 268 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Yet No Rest 270 

Greeley and Secession 271 

Charles Sumner's "Madness", 273 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Shocking Political Adultery . . . 276 

Letter to H. C. Payne 276 

The Flood-gates Opened 278 

A Noble Defender 281 

The Poland " Gag-law " 282 

Washburn and Howe 2S3 

The Combat Deepens 284 

Washburn's Letter to General 

Rusk 285 

The Bolters 285 

Nominated on the First Formal 

Ballot 287 

Pressure from Home 288 

Threats Materialized 290 

Miscegenation 291 

Angus Cameron's Letter 291 

" Eating Crow " 293 

The Sweets of Adversity 295 

Welcome Home 296 

A Confidential Talk 298 

The Fruit ot Disaster 300 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Still on the Hustings 302 

Firing at the Flock 303 

More Juicy Letters 307 

Worthy of Junius — A Letter to 
Washburn 309 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

.Victory and Retribution 315 

Mystification 316 

A Naive Reply 317 

The Chicago Tribune Chal- 
lenged 318 

The Matter Settled — A Peti- 
tion 320 

Lost in the Bear-garden 322 

Latter to H. M. Kutchin 323 

Reply to Geo. W. Allen 324 

On the Stump 328 

The Eve of Battle 32S 

Ninety-five Ballots 330 

Victory 330 

The People Rejoice 331 



A Demonstration in Milwau- 
kee 332 

Welcomed Back to Washington 333 
Genuine Civil Service Reform. 334 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

In the United States Senate 336 

Maiden Efforts 336 

His First Speech 337 

A Special Session 338 

So-called Loyal Claimants 339 

Reconstructing Georgia 340 

A Clash with Sumner 342 

Georgia and Mississippi 345 

When the Elephant Turns on 

its Friends 346 

Return of the Old Dominion. . 347 
Twenty-five Years of Cooling 

Down 348 

The Spanish Gun-boats — Cuba 349 

Splendid Indorsements 352 

" Webster of the West" 354 

An "Inhabitant" or a "Resi- 
dent" 355 

Enforcing the Amendments. . . . 356 

Large Offices, Small Pay 357 

Protecting Citizens Abroad. . . . 358 

The Franking Privilege 359 

A Snug Little Job 361 

Tariff and Taxes 362 

Citizenship of the Chinese 362 

Pensions — Corporations 363 

Wisconsin Measures 364 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Forty-first Congress 366 

A " Peculiar " Claim 366 

Co-education of Whites and 

Blacks 368 

Salaries of Judges 31^9 

Claims 370 

Four Georgia Senators 371 

The Iron-clad Oath 372 

Smothered Measures 373 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Forty- second Congress 374 

Special Session — A Stormy 

Period 375 

Newspaper Correspondents Dine 377 
Senator Nye's Indignation 379 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Forty-second Congress — Sec- 
ond Session 380 

Gilt-edge Vagaries 3S0 

The Chicago Fire 382 

Sumner's Civil Rights Bill 3S3 

Carpenter's Amendment 384 

Lesser Matters 385 

Nourishing His Enemies 385 



lO 



CONTENTS. 



Void Votes Defined 3S6 

Confused on the Tariff 388 

Clearing Out Cobwebs 38S 

The Ku Klux Act 389 

A Towering Humbug 390 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Sales of Arms to French Agents 392 

Sumner's Attack on Grant 394 

A Gallant Defense of Grant. . . 395 

How Stanton was Appointed. . . 399 

Stanton and Grant 400 

A View of the Controversy. . . . 401 

" Peace to His Ashes " 404 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Forty.second Congress — Third 

Session 405 

The Boston Fire 40.^ 

Franking Privilege Abolished.. 406 

Fillmore's Sanction of Polygamy 407 

" Back Pay " 407 

Splendid Tribute to Wisconsin. 40S 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Money in Politics 410 

Forty-third Congress — " Back 

Pay" 410 

Enemy's Property Defined .... 411 

A Senator's Luxuries 412 

Foreign Provinces in America. 413 

An Historical Chapter 414 

Cuban Freedom 416 

Another Civil Rights Bill 416 

Imposts, Commerce and Suf- 
frage 416 

First Term Ended 417 

Another Prophecy Fulfilled.... 418 

" Attorney at Law " 419 

• CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Re-appearance in the Senate. . . 420 

Fighting the Mexicanizers 421 

Res Adjndicata 422 

Shields and Webster 423 

A National Disgrace 424 

Sea-sickness in \Vashington. . . . 425 

PVee Riots on Election Day. . . . 425 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

A Tedious Session 428 

The Broken, Tattered Constitu- 
tion 42S 

The Supply of Indian Wars,., 429 

Fitz John Porter 430 

Carpenter's Argument 432 

Baxter's Gloomy Warning 434 

A Tilt with Blaine 434 

The Third-term Question 436 

The Geneva Award 437 

Red Tape 43S 

Pure Elections 438 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Closing Labors 440 

Astonisliing Statutes 442 

The Disgrace Still a Disgrace , 443 

Last Voice and Vote 444 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

President Pro Tempore 445 

Committees a n»d Committee 

S-rvice 445 

Indians and Citizenship 447 

Official Luxuries 448 

CHAPTER XL. 

Louisiana — Tumult and Blood- 
shed 451 

Absolute Chaos 453 

The Wiser Remedy 455 

A Visit to Louisiana 456 

The Mosaic Law — "Kill Him" 458 
Addressing the Discordant Ele- 
ments 459 

New Orleans of the Future. . , , 462 

Back in the Senate 462 

The Hayes-Tilden Dead-lock 

Predicted 464 

CHAPTER XLI. 

Facing the Storm — " Back 

Pay " 466 

Proper Compensation 469 

The Retroactive Section 472 

CHAPTER XLII. 

Baffled Conspirators 474 

" Whisky-ring " Discovered. . , . 475 

Carpenter, Keyes and Payne,.. 476 

Welcome Home 477 

Letter to Mrs. Carpenter 478 

Vindication 479 

CHAPTER xi.iir. 

Miscellaneous Addresses 481 

Seven Hundred and Fifty Heroes 482 

Another Splendid Oration 485 

Advice to Young Lawyers..., 488 

Professional Rewards 490 

A Charity Homily 491 

Fifty Thousand Hearers 494 

A Funeral Oration 495 

"Is th.it God, Mamma.'" 496 

Republics Not Ungrateful 497 

Tribute to the Press 497 

Divine Word-painting 497 

Death of Reverdy Johnson 499 

Hidden Blessings 500 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

Impartial Suffrage 502 

Equal Suffrage Predicted 502 

Myra Bradwell's Case 503 



CONTENTS. 



II 



The Fifteenth Amendment 504 

Susan B. Anthony Arrested. . . 505 

A Plea in the Senate 506 

God's Great Congregation 507 

A Man of the People 510 

CHAPTER XLV. 

Use and Love of Books 513 

Love of Children 515 

Letter to W. S. Carter 516 

Moral Courage 521 

Official Integrity 522 

A Powerful Memory 523 

W. P. Kellogg's Illustration 524 

A Wonderful Voice 526 

Peculiarities of Oratory 528 

Carpenter Describes Oratory. . . 529 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

Physical Appearance 532 

Portraits 535 

Charity 536 

Good Hearts 539 

The Washington Apple-woman 542 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

Religious Views 543 

Montreal Cathedral 544 

Favorite Divmes 545 

Letter to David Swing 546 

" I Believe This " 547 

Without Malice 548 



Who is Without Sin? 549 

Worldly Possessions 550 

The Carpenter Homestead 551 

Domestic Life 551 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

Notes and Anecdotes 553 

Writes Sermons for Rev. Eddy. 554 

Cheap Contempt 554 

Ryan and the Peddler 556 

Mosher's Obituary 558 

Joseph L. Atherton's Letter... 5159 

"Dear Carp." 562 

Carpenter and Black in Disha- 
bille 563 

Prophecies 564 

Secret Honors 565 

Letter from Grant 566 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

Sickness and Death 568 

" It is Incurable " 569 

" God Protect My Babies " 571 

Letter to Mrs. Carpenter 571 

Charles G. Williams' Address. 572 
Arthur MacArthur at the Death- 
bed 573 

Official Formalities 575 

The Funeral 578 

Roscoe Conkling's Gem 579 

Tributes 580 

An Epitaph by J. S. Black 584 



LIFE OF MATTHEW HALE CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER I. 

A RUGGED BIRTHPLACE. 

At the very heart of Vermont, in the center of Washing- 
ton county, torn by a torrent called Mad river and pierced 
by the eastern spine of the Green mountain range, in ro- 
mantic quietness nestles Moretown, the birthplace of Matthew 
Hale Carpenter. 

It was a rugged and beautiful belief of the ancient Greeks 
that their ancestors sprung directly from the sacred soil of 
Greece. Their love of country was deep and intense, because, 
when they worshiped their native land, it was honoring 
their beloved mother. Therefore, when the Greek orators 
came forth to eulogize statesmen and warriors, or pronounce 
funeral orations, they began by an apostrophe to the land of 
their birth. This custom exercised great influence in making 
Greece one of the marked nations of the earth in patriotism 
and subsequently in enlightenment. Thus, every country 
sends forth her sons stamped with the characteristics of 
the locality in which they were born. The children of the 
prairie are broad, untrammeled and progressive, while the 
dwellers of the mountains are sturdy, thrifty, valorous and 
lovers of freedom. 

" It has often occurred to me since Carpenter's untimely 
death," observed a colleague in the senate chamber, " that 
the scenes and natural surroundings of his childhood — scenes 
with which I am personally somewhat familiar — may have 
exercised no little influence upon his later career He was 
born on the side of a mountain, down which and past his 
dwelling rushed the Mad river, impatient of all obstacles, at 



14 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

times swollen with rains or melted snows, a torrent resist- 
lessly impetuous in its force, and at other times sparkling in 
the generous sunlight and filling the pleasant valleys below 
with liquid music. The varied moods of nature in his moun- 
tain home were reflected in his after life, and gave tone and 
color to his maturer years." 

Moretown is indeed a sequestered spot. It is stretched on 
a mountain-side, sloping mostly to the westward. The lesser 
p^aks of the eastern ridge of the Green mountains form its 
eastern boundary; adown its western half dashes the Mad 
river, which falls into the Winooski or Onion river on the 
north; and out of the west, overlooking a beautiful panorama 
of broken rock and green, the blue and bold outlines of the 
Camel's Hump rise four thousand feet into the clouds. Mont- 
pelier, the capital of the state, is ten or a dozen miles up the 
Winooski river, and Waterbury an equal distance below — 
staid, quiet, cultivated places, in strange contrast with the 
rough surroundings and the tumultuous waters that sometimes 
rush past their doors. But it is, withal, just such a vale as a 
poet would have chosen to be the birthplace of a man like 
Carpenter. 

" 'Tis a rough land of earth and stone and tree, 

Where breathes no castled lord or cabin'd slave; 

Where thoughts and tongues and hands are bold and free, 
And friends will find a welcome, foes a grave ; 

And where none kneel save when to Heaven they pray — 
Nor even then, unless in their own way. 

" They love their land because it is their own, 
And scorn to give aught other reason why — 

Would shake hands with a king upon his throne 
And think it kindness to his majesty. 

A stubborn race, fearing and flattering none — 
Such are they nurtured, such they live and die. 

"And minds have there been nurtured whose control 

Is felt even in their nation's destiny; 
Men who swayed senates with a statesman's soul 

And look'd on armies with a leader's eye — 
Names th.it adorn and dignify the scroll 

Whose leaves contain their country's history."! 

1 Fitz-Greene Halleck. 



AN ANCIENT FAMILY. 1 5 



AN ANCIENT FAMILY. 



The inhabitants of the northern provinces of France, more 
particularly those of Normandy, began, very soon after the 
year 1000, for the purpose of preserving an uncorrupted line 
of distinction for those who had acquired fame or property, 
to use family surnames. This custom was carried into Eng- 
land by the Normans under William the Conquerer. Among 
William's sixty thousand soldiers, present at the battle of Has- 
tings, A. D. 1066, were warriors of the name of Charpentier, 
who remained in Britain to carry out over his new subjects the 
deep and tyrannous plans of that rigorous invader. But as 
Domesday Book, that stupendous monument to William's 
far-reaching genius, and the most valuable record of olden 
times possessed by any nation, mentions Carpenters in the 
various " hundreds " of Hereford, Kent, and other districts, it 
is impossible to say definitely in what direction through Eng- 
land came the present family of Carpenters — whether from 
ancient Britons, more ancient Romans, or ancient Normans, 
or a mixture of all. 

There were two principal sources of family surnames in 
establishing distinct families, those arising from locality and 
those describing occupation. The Carpenters were of the 
latter; and, therefore, as surnames were not in vogue in 
Britain at the invasion of William the Conquerer, those pure 
Britons entered in Domesday Book under that name were 
undoubtedly such builders or wood-workers as had arrived 
at the dignity of possessing a pig or a yardland of ground, 
and were therefore to be put upon record as carpenters (the 
same as bakers or websters) owing tribute to the king. As 
soon as the habit of adopting fixed names became estab- 
lished, the significance of these descriptive titles disappeared, 
and the sons of Carpenters, while bearing a name indicating 
that they originally sprung from builders and wood artisans, 
became masons, miners, physicians, gentlemen and nobles; 
and the sons of Bakers and Miners became carpenters, web- 
sters, tanners, and the like. 



1 6 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

It is asserted, though the records in proof are vague, that 
Edward II caused an act to be passed compelling the use of 
family names according to locality and occupation, thus fix- 
ing the date for the common use in England of Carpenter, 
Baker, etc., to describe families and tribes, at 1308. It is 
certain, however, that in 1465 Edward IV had an act pub- 
lished compelling all subjects who had not yet adopted that 
style to " goe apparelled like Englishmen, weare their beards 
like Englishmen, and take English surnames like unto their 
townes, as Chester, their arte, as Carpenter, or their office, as 
Cooke or Butler." 

The reign of the Norman kings in Great Britain closed in 
1 1 54, and thereafter, under the reign of the Plantagenets and 
the Tudors, some of the Carpenter family arose to distinc- 
tion. They spread into various counties and became bishops, 
sheriffs, judges and gentlemen. There is a tradition that the 
Carpenter with whom this volume will deal descended from 
an ancient family of that name in Hereford, a county border- 
ing on Wales. A moment's attention will therefore be given 
to this source of descent. The Hereford portion of the 
Domesday Book mentions Carpenters and Carpentarii, so 
they were early and prominent occupants of that fertile and 
beautiful section. 

The Norman nobles who settled in Hereford and along 
the Welsh border were called the " Lords Marchers." Sub- 
sequently, in the Red Book of the Exchequer they were 
styled Marchiones Wallige (marchers or governors of the 
border land of Wales). During the reign of Richard II a 
nobleman of this sort became a marquis. These primal 
lords marchers were similar to barons and sat in parliament. 
They made laws, and all suits, not concerning a barony 
itself, between tenants, or between tenants and others, were 
begun and concluded before them. Their jurisdiction being 
original and unlimited, they fell into the ways of tyranny, in- 
justice and public outrage. Their " exactions, molestations, 
undue delays, malpractices, exorbitant fees and intolerable 
impoverishments" became such a scandal that a court of 



AN ANCIENT FAMILY. 1 7 

judicature was instituted under Edward IV with noblemen 
residing at Ludlow castle as lords lieutenants of the marches. 
These lieutenants were surrounded by the highest circum- 
stances of royalty until their dissolution by act of parliament 
under William and Mary. The first lord lieutenant of the 
marches was John Carpenter, who opened court amidst the 
costliest splendors, in 1469. He wore the robes about four- 
teen years, " making certain ordinances and punishments for 
the weale and tranquility of the towne." 

Hereford, though ancient and rich, has had less of her his- 
tory written than almost any other county of Great Britain; 
so but little more is seen of this particular line of Carpenters 
until Cromwell's time, in which they are mentioned as sol- 
diers of great strength and valor. Charles II succeeded 
Richard Cromwell in 1660, and in the official lists of " men 
of Noble and Gentle birth " made at that time for Hereford, 
appear "Thomas Carpenter, gentleman, Rudhall Carpen- 
ter, Esquire, Thomas Carpenter, Esquire,^ and Corne- 
wall Carpenter, gentleman," all of whom had sons and 
brothers. 

The list of sheriffs, doing the earl's will and carrying the 
king's writs, extends in Hereford from a period previous to 
the Norman conquest. In this list may be found several 
Carpenters, who were especially strong under Queen Anne 
and George I. Subsequently, the Carpenter nobility and 
gentry — descendants of the honorable men of Domesday — 

1 In "recording and accurately displaying the remarkable actions and 
sufferings, virtues, vices, parts and learning" of the Hereford Carpen- 
ters, " from the earliest accounts of time to the present period," an early 
English biographical work in eight volumes has this account of George 
(Lord) Carpenter: "He was descended from an ancient family in Hertford- 
shire [Hereford], and born in Pitchers Ocull, in that county, on the loth of 
February, 1657, and was the son of Warncomb Carpenter, sixth son of 
Thomas Carpenter, Esq., lord of the manor of Homme [Holme] in the parish 
of Dilwynne, near Woebly ; which manor, with a considerable estate, has 
been in this family and lineally descended from father to son for above four 
hundred years, and is now [1795] in the possession of the Earl of Tyrcon- 
nel." 



l8 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

were endowed with coat-armor.^ It is difficult to trace the 
circumstances under which this armor fell to them, as com- 
paratively few families of the gentry have any exact date 
of their arms. The College of Arms goes back only to the 
reign of Richard III. Previous to that time, coat-armor was 
the immediate gift of royalty, or conferred by commanders 
upon those who had earned it by valor in battle. The crest 
and motto of the Carpenters have the appearance of having 
come from the latter class. At least, several of the family in 
early generations were distinguished commanders. 

It may now be discernible that the Carpenter family is 
ancient, noble and gentle — one of the very oldest of dis- 
tinctive human tribes in Britain. The large number of that 
name found in the records with the christian prefix of William 
tends to establish their Norman descent; yet, as Carpenters 
were listed in 1080 in Domesday who could not have been 
Normans, they may have come down through feuds and 
blood from the Fabers, Fabricuses and Carpentarii of the 
Romans. Lower, one of the most noted of English phi- 
lologists, says the Carpentarii of Domesday Book, were 
" tenants-in-chief and honorable men." They would seem, 
therefore, to have been Romans. 

The subject of this memoir was descended from those 
hardy immigrants who were among the very first settlers of 
New England. With the crossing of the ocean not only all 
nobility but all connection with it was technically destroyed. 
Otherwise, a vast estate, lying in trust in England for the 
Carpenters, might be secured, and a perfect hne of descent 
back to the Norman invasion be herein presented. But 
where indefatigable lawyers, drawn forward by the enticing 
glow of an almost limitless legacy, have failed, a mere biog- 
rapher is content to go on, admitting his defeat in the 
attempt to connect, in close legal manner, the Carpenter line 

' " Paly of six ar. and gu. on a chev. az. three crosses crosslet or. Crest — 
A globe in frame, all or. Sttf porters — Two horses, per fesse embattled 
ar. and gu. Motto — Per acuta belli." — Burke's General Artnory. 



THE CARPENTERS IN AMERICA. 1 9 

of primogeniture in England and America, feeling safe to 
assert, however, after exhaustive research, that British and 
American records and traditions are sufficiently corrobora- 
tive of each other to give credence to the genealogy now 
assumed. 

THE CARPENTERS IN AMERICA. 

(i) William Carpenter, born in England in 1576, sailed 
from Southampton in the Bevis in May, 1638, and landed 
probably at Boston. He was accompanied by his son (2) 
William, aged 33, who had a wife, Abigail, and four chil- 
dren " of ten 3'^ears olde and less." He settled at Weymouth, 
Mass., became a freeman in May, 1640, and was a repre- 
sentative in 1641 and 1643. He died in 1659. The second 
(2) William took up an abode with his family and servant at 
Rehoboth, Mass. Among his four children, born in Eng- 
land and brought over in the Bevis, was (3) William, who, 
October 5, 165 1, married Priscilla Bonnet (or Bonette). Of 
his children, (4) Benjamin, born October 20, 1663, married 
Hannah, daughter of Jedediah Strong. Benjamin's tenth 
child, (5) Ebenezer, born at Coventry, Ct., November 9, 
1709, married Eunice Thompson, and among his children 
was (6) James, born at Coventry, April 15, 1741, who mar- 
ried Irene Ladd. James had fourteen children, of whom 
(7) Cephas, born at Coventry, July 8, 1770, married Anna 
Benton and reared ten children, of whom (8) Ira, born at 
Moretown, Vt., April 29, 1798, married Esther Ann Luce 
(born December 24, 1802). She died February i, 1835, leav- 
ing four children — (9) Decatur Merritt Hammond,^ whose 
narrative we are now following, born December 22, 1824; 
Anna Amelia, born June 17, 1827, married and resides at 
Grand Forks, Dakota; Esther Johnson, born March 23, 

1 Subsequently, as will appear farther on, his name was changed to Mat- 
thew Hale Carpenter; but Merritt will be used to designate him in connec- 
tion with any incident related in this work that transpired before that 
change was made. 



f 

20 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

1830, married and resides at St. Paul, Minn.; and Cephas 
Warner, born August 2, 1832, and resides at St. Paul, 
Minn. Ira Carpenter, marrying a second time, increased 
his family by four sons and two daughters. The second 
marriage resulted in sending the children of the first wife 
out to early efforts in their own behalf, making, prac- 
tically, a separate family of them, as we shall see pres- 
ently by following the footsteps of Merritt, whose early 
fortunes were but little different from those of his brother 
and sisters. 

The Carpenters were generally of good stock, mentally 
and physically. They have, beginning as far back as 1641, 
held various offices of honor and trust and occupied respect- 
able positions in their several communities in Massachusetts, 
Connecticut and Vermont. They have, for more than two 
centuries, fought all the battles of their country — against the 
aborigines in defense of their humble cabins and plantations; 
against the French and Indians, twice against the British, 
against the Mexicans, and at last in the Rebellion for the 
extirpation of the oligarchy of slavery. Their names have 
entered history as clergymen, attorneys, manufacturers, sol- 
diers, representatives, journalists, physicians and judges of 
rather more than ordinary reputation. Coming to America 
in the earliest colonial times, "their sons and their sons' 
sons," having wrought the desert into a garden, planted 
civilization in the abodes of savagery, and reared, amidst the 
surrounding realms of autocracy and bondage, an empire of 
freedom that is shaking the gyves from all mankind, have 
now " compassed all the lands round about." 

Esther Ann Luce, Merritt's mother, was the daughter of 
a minister of some renown, and a woman of more than 
ordinary personal attractions and mental accomplishments. 
She was a sweet-tempered, gentle. Christian woman, who 
had the fear of God before her eyes. Naturally ambitious 
concerning the worldly welfare and honor of her children, 
she was yet more solicitous for their spiritual well-being. 



THE CARPENTERS IN AMERICA. 21 

Living, she reared them gently, teaching the beauty and 
sweetness of the golden rule; and dying, committed their 
future to Him who sent manna to the children of Israel in 
the wilderness and who tempereth the winds to the shorn 
lamb. She died blessing her babes and her Savior, but 
blessed the world by leaving in Merritt's sobbing breast the 
sunny temper and the tender heart that had made herself so 
lovely. 

Ira Carpenter was a particularly fine-looking man, easy in 
his manner, social in his habits, and a favorite among 
acquaintances. For more than twenty years he held the 
office of deputy sheriff" or sheriff", and was frequently con- 
stable of the town, justice of the peace, postmaster and repre- 
sentative in the legislature. He was well posted in politics, a 
fluent debater among his neighbors, and stronger than the 
ordinary run of men in argument and logic. Although 
agile, trustworthy and shrewd in business methods, he never- 
theless accumulated no property. He departed this life at 
Warren, Vt., October 23, 1862. 

Cephas Carpenter was a man of vigorous intellect, giant 
frame and prominent characteristics. . He was robust phys- 
ically and mentally. For the extraordinary period of forty 
years he was a justice of the peace in Moretown, and pre- 
sided at the trial of cases almost without number. If a cause 
chanced to go to trial before another justice, Cephas Carpen- 
ter was generally present acting as counsel for one or the 
other of the parties litigant. He had a clear idea of equity 
and knew a great deal of law. " The Vermont Historical 
Gazetteer " records of him : " He was a good lawyer 
though not a member of any bar." His adroitness and 
sturdy eloquence hardly ever failed to bring discomfiture 
upon the best regular practitioners who opposed him. Law 
was his business, theology his pleasure, and it was notorious 
that he whipped the professional advocates of the former as 
easily as he put to rout the regular divines of the latter. If 
there was any one to oppose him, he would argue theology 



22 LIFE OF CARPENTER. • 

by the day, and it was the common understanding in his 
neighborhood that " Col. Carpenter had never met his 
match." It is certain that he was a man of no ordinary 
parts, and that, had he been schooled and trained in law or 
theology, he would have become a famous character. His 
admirable mental and many of his physical qualities re- 
appeared in his grandson, whose life is presented in this vol- 
ume, and there received the culture and training he lacked 
so much but so richly deserved. His death occurred in 
peace and quietness, at the ripe age of eighty-nine, beloved 
and respected by all who knew him. He was one of the 
very first settlers of Moretown, and amid many privations 
and hardships, helped to pay for the land in the original 
purchase at so many ears of maize per acre. 

CHILDHOOD. 

If it had any bearing further than to picture traits of char- 
acter, much that is interesting might be said concerning 
Carpenter's childhood. His mother dying when he was 
slightly more than ten years of age, a step-mother was 
brought to take her place less than a twelve-month later. 
Although this was a wise move for his younger brothers and 
sisters, it was not relished by him, who never got on harmo- 
niously with the second mother. 

In babyhood or boyhood he was not an ordinary child. 
At the age of two years his shapely head was stroked by 
Paul Dillingham, the successful Waterbury attorney, who 
expanded and nourished the mother's natural pride by ob- 
serving that her child had a fine brain and must be trained 
for a distinguished future. This semi-prophecy was never 
forgotten, and as soon as he could utter simple words, Mrs. 
Carpenter began to teach her babe the letters of the alpha- 
bet from the few stiff sentences that adorned the family 
cook-stove. He learned easily, and before his little legs 
could carry him straight and steady, was in the habit of 
astonishing the neighbors by repeating every letter the stove 



♦ CHILDHOOD. 23 

contained. From this he advanced to other things, and 
when he had arrived at school age, was the " smartest lad in 
Moretown." 

Although Merritt grew rapidly, had thick, beautiful hair 
and was a handsome child, he was not robust. On the con- 
trary he was rather pale and slim, and by his companions 
was sometimes called " spindle-shanks." He loved reading 
and was very studious in school, but from the very first was 
on exceedingly bad terms with all forms of manual labor. 
To be exactly truthful, he hated work, and manifested his 
first shrewdness in devising means to avoid it. He loved to 
read and play, and if left to himself would divide the time 
about evenly between the two. His father, as constable, 
sheriff, and deputy sheriff, was generally compelled to spend 
much of his time in absence from home. Before leaving in 
the morning it was usual for him to lay out a day's work for 
Merritt, and it was equally usual for him to return at night 
and find the task incomplete or untouched. All the means 
of coercion known in those sturdy days were resorted to in 
vain ; the boy did not and would not work. Upon one occa- 
sion, the paternal Carpenter told the son he must hoe a 
certain piece of corn or receive a " sound whipping." After 
the father had mounted his horse and departed, Merritt 
shouldered a hoe and proceeded to avoid chastisement. On 
the following morning, Mr. Carpenter went to the garden to 
view the labors of his promising offspring, and found that 
each hill of corn had been slightly scratched around close up to 
the roots of the stalks, while in between the rows the swamp 
of noxious weeds remained untouched. Returning briskly to 
the house, the father called Merritt before him. " I thought 
I told you to hoe that corn," was the stern ejaculation. " I 
did hoe it, father, every hill of the patch," replied the boy 
with becoming gentility. "Yes, you did, at a great rate! 
The weeds are just as thick as ever," said the father, in a 
still more threatening tone. "You never touched them." 
"But father," pleaded the young Bacon with well-assumed 



24 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

simplicity of manner, " you only told me to hoe the coi'n. I 
didn't know you wanted the weeds hoed, too!" Shrewdness 
and naiveness probably saved him a whipping, but finally 
Merritt was obliged to hoe both the weeds and the corn, 
gready to his childish disgust. 

At another time, before riding to Montpelier to attend to 
the day's business, Mr. Carpenter said to his son : " Mer- 
ritt, I have hired Johnny Eagan to hoe potatoes. Now 
you must help him, and what you and he don't do to-day, 
you will be obliged to finish to-morrow without help, for I 
can afford to hire but one day's work." Now, Johnny 
Eagan was exceedingly fond of Merritt and also partial 
toward "just the laste dhrap of the cratur." The two un- 
derstood each other perfectly. The boy, therefore, having 
formulated his plan for the day, went early and purchased 
a small decanter of whisky, and leaving his hoe hanging 
comfortably in the wood-shed, proceeded to the potato-patch 
with a book and the bottle. At seven o'clock, at the first 
hill of the first row, he gave Johnny a light draught, and, 
running to the other side of the field, shook the flagon, cried 
" come on," and settled down to read. Johnny hoed through 
the row as if propelled by steam, and as a reward had 
another brief pull at the liquor. Merritt then turned back to 
the place of beginning, again raised aloft the flagon so the 
sun would glint through the amber depths of the " water of 
life" it contained, shouted again "come on, Johnny," and 
resumed his book. This process was repeated in various 
forms during the day, and when the elder Carpenter re- 
turned at night, he found Merritt as fresh and jolly as a 
cricket, every hill of potatoes well hoed, and Johnny stretched 
upon a bench reeking wet with perspiration and weak from 
weariness. Since that day it has not been uncommon in 
Moretown to hear whisky mentioned as " Carpenter's potato 
cultivator." But the most interesting feature remains to be 
related. A still deeper friendship sprung up between Mer- 
ritt Carpenter and Johnny Eagan, which lasted until the end 



CHILDHOOD. 25 

of life, and never, after Carpenter went west and became a 
conspicuous figure in the nation, did he go back to Vermont 
without procuring a carriage and driving up the Green 
mountains to " Hardscrabble Hill," to greet and visit in his 
humble home the joUy Irishman who saved him a day's work 
in the potato-patch. The last time these curious friends met 
was after the kind-hearted Irishman had passed his eightieth 
year. Carpenter was to pay a brief visit to Moretown, and 
sent in advance to have a carriage bring the withered com- 
panion of his youth down from the mountain. The request 
was complied with, and when the two came together they 
clasped each other like brothers. After he had been elected 
to the senate, Carpenter came across an old friend from 
Moretown, and the two settled down together to review the 
scenes of their childhood. One after another the fates and 
successes of old acquaintances were discussed, and when the 
friend announced that Johnny Eagan had " gone the way of 
all the earth," Carpenter bowed his head and wept. But it 
is not difficult to account for the apparently strange freak of 
love between a bright, playful child and a poor old Irishman. 
Merritt was a boy of conspicuous winsomeness and promise, 
and Eagan, though brought down to poverty and obscurity 
by many misfortunes, had been well bred and well educated, 
and retained all his intellectuality and love of it in others. 
He delighted in the sympathetic and eloquent reading of his 
young friend, and would at any time, in order to hear it, saw 
wood, hoe in the garden, or lift other tasks from Merritt's 
shoulders. 

After all, the boy was not lazy. He was misjudged. The 
work-a-day people of Moretown thought his hatred of hoe 
and " hard-pan " meant indolence. Therein they were hon- 
estly mistaken. He would begin any book or branch of 
study with eagerness and pursue it to the end with persist- 
ent diligence, but he simply would not bend his back to 
manual labor when there was a possible mode of escape, 
though extremely industrious in the direction of his inclina- 



26 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

tions. His favorite companion was a playful, sturdy lad 
named "Joe" Sawyer. They were almost constantly to- 
gether, although their homes were on opposite sides of the 
Mad river. They did nothing particularly mischievous or 
out of character, simply played up and down the river or sat 
in some rocky nook listening to each other's spirited reading. 
This Utopian programme of boyhood brought no return to 
either family, but greatly annoyed the fathers of both, who, 
as was wont in those close and thrifty da3's, looked upon 
idleness or play as something actually next to the bad. The 
elder Carpenter and Sawyer, counseling together upon the 
general unproductiveness of their boys, determined to keep 
them apart. Each, therefore, told his son not to cross the 
Mad river. The order was delivered in the early morning 
to young Carpenter, with the father's addendum that he was 
determined to prevent the squandering of so much valuable 
time in play with "Joe " Sawyer. After breakfast Merritt 
went to the bridge crossing the river, hung his legs over the 
side of the structure, and began a loud, long whistle, a sort 
of bugle-call. In a short time "Joe " came sauntering 
toward the whistler. The two boys, with mutually droll 
winks, met and played together, spending an exceedingly 
joyous day on the bridge. When they parted at .night Mer- 
ritt shrewdly observed: "Now, we haven't crossed the 
river nor disobeyed our fathers, have we, Joe ? " 

The boys learned their lessons easily and quickly, and 
therefore had an overabundance of leisure for those gallop- 
ing frolics and mischievous pranks in school which, though 
perpetrated without the faintest trace of wickedness or 
malice, were nevertheless extremely annoying to the teach- 
ers. On one occasion during the winter after Merritt was 
thirteen years of age, he and his crony, with other large 
boys, had turned two teachers out of the Moretown school. 
That is, they had made things so disagreeable generally that 
the teachers, who were really incompetent both in education 
and discipline, abandoned the school. A third had been en- 



CHILDHOOD. 27 

gaged, but as he was no improvement upon the others, the 
boys, unable to proceed satisfactorily with their studies, 
began to vex him and to lay plans for his dethronement. At 
this point Merritt and " Joe " were sent by their respective 
fathers, who had counseled together again, into the neigh- 
boring forest to chop wood. They received with their axes 
a promise that whenever they would bind themselves to 
cease their vexatious conduct toward the pedagogue, they 
might return from the forest and resume steady attendance 
upon school. At the end of a week, sore and weary, they 
resolved that the lot of a meek and subjugated student was 
preferable to that of the greatest wood-chopper. With axes 
and buoyancy equally dulled, they thereupon returned to 
Moretown, and on the following Monday created a gentle 
sensation by resuming their accustomed seats. The boys 
were fine scholars for persons of their ages, and really de- 
sirous of further proficiency; but the third teacher proving 
as weak and inefficient as the others, they soon determined 
to expel him, and in a very few days accomplished it by bar- 
ricading the doors against his entrance. This action was 
not much regretted by the officers of the district, though 
naturally it could not be openly indorsed. They at once in- 
stalled an elderly gentleman named Miller. He was of lib- 
eral education and stern discipline, and carried the school 
through with success and satisfaction. In connection with 
his pedagogic reign an incident must be brought in at this 
point. Among the leading features of winter life in the 
country as far back as 1837 were the jolly, old-fashioned 
spelling-schools. They were planned and consummated 
with a zest unknown to modern days, and possessed a charm 
that never failed to draw out the entire community, old and 
young. In the spelling-schools of Moretown Merritt always 
had a prominent part, being the best declaimer in the village. 
Mr. Miller's term was not without the usual number of 
them, and at a certain one Merritt was to declaim one of the 
brilliant orations of Henry Clay. He and his Grandfather 



28 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Carpenter were both ardent admirers of the Kentucky 
statesman, and when the crowd gathered in the evening, it 
was noted with interest that a large and striking portrait of 
Clay occupied the most sightly place on the rostrum. 

Miller was of the opposite political devotions, and, being 
of determined convictions, disliked Clay even more vehe- 
mently than young Carpenter admired him. On entering 
the school -house his eye fell instantly upon the offending 
picture. The audience knew full well his hatred of Clay, 
and dropped suddenly into an anxious silence to observe 
what course of procedure the teacher would adopt. He 
halted with abrupt and tragic indignation, and throwing his 
piercing glances searchingly over the crowded room, de- 
manded: "Who had the temerity to perpetrate this insult — 
who swung that picture ? "/ Merritt, with the frankness and 
fearlessness that characterized his youth as well as his man- 
hood, arose without delay and answered: "I did, sir." The 
master's eyes blazed as he hesitated for a moment to deter- 
mine what should be done, and he thundered: "Remove it 
instantly; take it out of the house !" Merritt proceeded to 
the rostrum in silent but grieved obedience to the master's 
command. He had hardly unstrung the reflective face of 
the immortal author of the American System before the 
massive head and shoulders of his grandfather, Cephas Car- 
penter, towered above the assemblage. All eyes turned 
toward him apprehensively, for it was possible that he would 
hurl the angry teacher from the room. Though his every 
ligament and motion betrayed agitation, he made no demon- 
stration toward the offender, but stretching forth his long 
arms he said, with all the eloquence of earnestness: "Come 
here with it, my boy ! " Merritt obeyed as implicitly as 
though he had received no contradictory order from the 
teacher, and his aged grandparent, still erect, clasped the 
portrait, kissed it tenderly and pressed it to his bosom. 

Silence reigned for some minutes after the closing of this in- 
tensely dramatic scene. The baffled master stood motion- 



CHILDHOOD. 29 

less and speechless, and all were pained with the apparent 
impossibility of finding a way to start the proceedings for- 
ward in their usual rut. Fortunately, a sleigh of visitors 
from a neighboring district unloaded and poured in at that 
moment, and matters again resumed their accustomed course. 

When everybody had been " spelled down," declamations 
were in order. As Merritt in his turn mounted the little 
rostrum, no one failed to notice that his boyish spirit was 
aroused to its highest pitch. Grandfather Carpenter, still 
hugging the portrait, advanced a few seats forward that he 
might better see and hear his pet grandchild. This move- 
ment added increased interest to that already imparted by 
the earlier incident of the evening, and Merritt, influenced 
by what had been transpiring, surpassed all his previous 
efforts. As he descended to his seat the building trembled 
under the demonstrations of applause that greeted him, 
while Grandfather Carpenter, waiving the portrait of Clay 
high over his head, cried, " Bravo ! Bravo ! " 

The term of school taught by Miller was the last one 
attended by Merritt in Moretown. 

Mock schools, mock military maneuvers, play-house 
building, leaping, wrestling and things of that sort, indulged 
in by every hale child in the land to a greater or less extent, 
had no charms for Merritt. He was rarely known to partic- 
ipate in the ordinary athletic sports of boyhood. But he en- 
gaged in amusements of his own conception with ardor. 
During political campaigns he gathered a few choice cronies 
in secluded barns or sheds and gravely addressed them on 
the chief issues of the day. " Playing funeral " was a source 
of amusement at home in which he took great delight. His 
younger sister, Esther, was laid out by himself and older 
sister Anna as the corpse, and stretched on an old-fashioned 
chest, the lid of which, removable, served as a bier. Mer- 
ritt acted as preacher, and in addition to giving out hymns to 
be sung by the choir, and directing things generally, always 
mounted a box or chair and pronounced an elaborate funeral 



30 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

sermon upon the late lamented, setting forth her admirable 
qualities in eloquent and feeling terms. These remarkable 
performances, which originated wholly in young Carpenter's 
active brain, frequently attracted the attention of the neigh- 
bors, who gathered in wonder rather than woe, and departed 
in merriment rather than sorrow. The genuineness and 
originality of his funeral sermons were generally discussed 
by the neighbors, who pronounced the boy far too remark- 
able for a long life. 

At numerous points through Moretown the banks of Mad 
river were skirted with willows. Under their thick shade, 
in secluded bends or hollows, Merritt frequently convened 
the children of the village and held regular "protracted 
meetings." These gatherings were in all their appointments 
similar to the religious " revivals " indulged in by the Meth- 
odists and other denominations for the purpose of revivify- 
ing religious sentiment and recruiting the ranks of those who 
serve the Lord. Merritt, on such occasions, always did the 
talking or exhorting, and so eloquent and earnest were his 
appeals, that, according to the testimony of one or two surviv- 
ing participants, some of his hearers were in the habit of 
being deeply moved, bearing public evidence to the power 
of his oratory by " going forward," and signifying their in- 
tention to renounce the world and enter the straight and 
narrow way that leadeth unto life everlasting. Sometimes 
Merritt's revivals were largely attended. They were alwa3's 
interesting and successful, adults and gray-heads frequently 
crowding the back seats. At that time the villagers, in their 
discussions, predicted that he would one day be the most re- 
nowned pulpit orator in America. Having a natural relig- 
ious sentiment, full of the spirit of power and of eloquence, 
had Carpenter's lot fallen to the ministry instead of the law, 
this prophecy would undoubtedly have become a verity. 

Although " fair Moretown's vale " was generally quiet and 
peaceful beyond expression. Carpenter grew up to be an 
ardent lover of mental excitement and a joyous participant 



CHILDHOOD. ' 31 

in Stormy proceedings. In the fulness of life, the tumult of 
war and the excitement of political contentions roused him 
to his greatest efforts. The Mad river, which dashed by 
the rear of his father's house, frequently became a roaring tor- 
rent. Whenever he observed the angry waters creeping 
into the garden and threatening the out-buildings of his 
humble home, young Carpenter was in high glee. His 
spirits seemed to rise and expand with the floods, and he 
leaped and danced up and down the banks of the stream in 
search of the wildest rapids and the noisiest cataracts. These 
demonstrations were not looked upon without wonder, as 
children generally tremble at storms and floods and shrink 
in terror from a roaring waterfall. When he was a very 
small child, an unusual flood swept down the jagged channel 
of the river. In his mother's arms Merritt watched the 
turgid element advance to the threshold of his father's dwel- 
ling, which, as the waters continued to rise, was abandoned 
by the entire family in the middle of the night. By the 
early light of the following morning they saw it move from 
the foundations, quickly break up, and the scattered timbers 
go dancing down the flooded valley. His father was then 
postmaster of Moretown, but as mail was received only once 
a week, the public loss was small. 

When Merritt arrived at the period where he began to 
have an interest in public men, Daniel Webster was the fore- 
most statesman and orator on the American continent. His 
speeches were the general theme of conversation, and Mer- 
ritt began to turn his attention to the man whose fame per- 
meated every community and entered the remotest social 
circle. In 1835 a new edition of Webster's speeches and ora- 
tions was published, which renewed public interest in his reply 
to Hayne on the Foote resolutions and against the nullifica- 
tion theories of the south. When, a year or two later, the 
volume reached the secluded passes of the Green mountains, 
the bright young boy caught the spirit of the lofty patriot- 
ism, the ponderous logic and the sonorous eloquence of that 



32 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

splendid effort, and began to commit to memory its seventy 
matchless pages. This unusual task he completed in two 
weeks, at the same time keeping up all the studies of his 
classes in school. It was then given out that Ira Carpen- 
ter's son would deliver one of Webster's speeches from 
memory, in a neighboring school-house, for the benefit of the 
Sunday school. An admission fee was charged, yet such was 
the reputation of the boy that hardly standing room re- 
mained when the hour arrived for him to begin the declama- 
tion. He made his appearance like a trained orator, without 
trepidation or hesitancy, and although nearly two hours were 
consumed in the delivery of the oration, he went through 
without skip or break. This feat was considered so re- 
markable, and the elocutionary powers displayed were so 
unusual, that for some time young Carpenter was called the 
" Green Mountain Webster." 

Beginning at about his ninth year, Carpenter read the 
public addresses of Webster, Clay, Choate and their contem- 
poraries, and committed many of them to memory for deliv- 
ery at spelling-schools, exhibitions, the regular rhetorical 
exercises of the schools he attended, or for any other occa- 
sions that might arise. For several years before leaving his 
father's roof in Moretown, he preserved all the speeches 
made in congress, reading and re-reading them to his father 
and grandfather. The latter pointed out and dwelt upon 
their eloquent passages and clear statements of principles, 
which thus became fastened upon the lad's memory for all 
time. When he left home a chest in his room was found to 
contain hundreds of those orations and addresses, carefully 
arranged and marked. They were preserved by the family 
for some years, but finally the mice found a way into the box 
and devoured them for food, or reduced them to tatters for 
nests. 

Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of Carpenter's 
childhood was that he always had a little ready money in his 
pocket. How or where it was obtained his father never 



CHILDHOOD. 33 

knew, and for years related the fact as one of the mysteries 
of the neighborhood. Whence the money came that bought 
the liquor for Johnny Eagan, the elder Carpenter had no 
knowledge, nor how Merritt found the wherewith to pur- 
chase the books that from time to time were found in his 
possession. The secret, however, could have been explained 
by the proud old grandfather, who would forego any lux- 
ury, or, if necessary, any ordinary necessity, that his favorite 
might buy books. Other relatives were also in the habit of 
bestowing small sums of money upon the boy, which, instead 
of going for tobacco, sweetmeats or rubbish of any sort, 
were treasured until their aggregate would procure some 
coveted volume. 

In Moretown, because of his thorough aversion for manual 
labor, Merritt's reputation was that of being "lazy, but 
smart," and the steady people of that section regarded with 
wonder the prodigious achievements of his after-life — most 
of them due alone to application and industry, which they 
thought he had not, rather than to " smartness," which they 
knew he had. 
3 



34 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER II. 



AT PAUL DILLINGHAM'S. 



During Carpenter's boyhood the attorney who enjoyed 
the largest practice at Moretown and in the Mad river 
valley was Paul Dillingham, subsequently governor of Ver- 
mont and representative in congress, who then resided and 
still resides at Waterbury, in the same county. For more 
than a quarter of a century Carpenter's father, in discharg- 
ing the duties of his offices, was frequently thrown in contact 
with the attorneys doing business in that vicinity, and thus 
became acquainted with Mr. Dillingham, a man of the most 
genial and cordial manners and successful business methods. 
Subsequently, closer business relations grew into a warm 
and life-long friendship, and Ira Carpenter's house became 
Dillingham's habitual stopping-place in Moretown. 

During these frequent and informal visits, little Merritt's 
beauty and brightness attracted Dillingham's attention, and 
in due time the courtly attorney and the affectionate lad had 
really fallen in love. with each other. Merritt frequently rode 
short distances in Dillingham's carriage, and on days when 
the attorney was expected in Moretown, sat on the fence, 
eagerly watching for the appearance of the well-known 
Waterbury turn-out. Thoroughly in love with his profession, 
and regarding Merritt as a child of exceeding promise, Dil- 
lingham proposed that, in the course of a few years, the boy 
should go and live with him and learn the law. Merritt re- 
plied that he would, though Dillingliam regarded the prompt 
affirmative simply as an honest expression of alTection, 
which would be forgotten amidst the new ideas and ambi- 
tions of advancing youtli. In that he was wholly mistaken, 
for, taking his genial friend as an admired example, Merritt 
concluded that nothing could equal the law in producing re- 
spectability, success and fine manners. He therefore deter- 



AT PAUL DILLINGHAM S. 35 

mined to become a lawyer — a resolution which, he declared 
in later years, he never ceased for a moment to entertain, 
although but six years of age at the time of receiving the 
promise that, at fourteen, he should enter the office at 
Waterbury, and be put in training. Thus, in the boy's mind, 
the whole matter was settled. Discovering, however, soon 
after his father's second marriage, that he was not getting 
on as amiably with the step-mother as he had with his own 
mother, he became more eager than ever for the time to 
arrive when he could go to claim the fulfillment of the prom- 
ise, which, although made in good faith, Dillingham had 
forgotten. One November evening, some weeks before the 
arrival of the long-looked-for fourteenth birthday, Merritt, 
while discussing the near opening of the winter term of 
school, announced that he was "done with Moretown teach- 
ers." In response to his father's inquiry, he replied that he 
" knew niore than the teachers ; " they couldn't teach him 
anything in the least of his studies, and he was going to 
Waterbury to enter Paul Dillingham's law office. 

Mr. Carpenter interposed no objection, for he thought 
Merritt would be " homesick " and ready to return home and 
to school at the end of three or four days, or a week, at the 
utmost, and that the experience would prove beneficial. 

A few sentences may now be quoted from " The Vermont 
Historical Gazetteer," the facts for which compilation, so far 
as they concern Carpenter, came directly from Dillingham. 
It relates: 

On the occasion of a certain trip to Moretown, while passing over the 
height of land midway between the latter village and Waterbury, Mr. Dil- 
lingham was surprised to meet young Carpenter, then a lad of fourteen, 
trudging along on foot,l with all his worldly effects in a small bundle. 

1 In this Dillingham is incorrectly quoted. Merritt went on horseback 
to Waterbury to learn whether the cherished promise was to be fulfilled, 
and thus mounted met Mr. Dillingham on the road. Having arrived in 
Waterbury and made friends with Mrs. Dillingham, he awaited her hus- 
band's return. Well pleased with his wife's reception of the boy, the at- 
torney told Merritt to draft a writ, which he did with precision as to spelling 



36 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

When asked where he was going, the boy replied, " To Waterbury, to live 
■with you and be a lawyer." 'Squire Dillingham, as he was then popularly 
called, finding his former proposals thus unexpectedly accepted, directed 
the lad to go ahead, report to Mrs. Dillingham and await his return at 
night. Mrs. Dillingham was greatly pleased with her youthful visitor, 
who made such good use of his undeveloped arts as an advocate, that, when 
Mr. Dillingham returned, he found an entente cordiale had already been es- 
tablished between his wife and the boy. And this is how young Carpenter 
became 2i protege, though never a formally adopted son, of Hon. Paul Dil- 
lingham, whose house thereafter was the only home he had until he en- 
tered upon the practice of his profession and made one for himself in the 
west. 

The change thus recorded, though the boy left a proud 
and indulgent father, was in every way a fortunate one for 
the embryo lawyer. The estate of Mr. Dillingham is amid 
some of the finest of Vermont scenery. Close to Mount 
Mansfield, in one of those fertile nooks that hide themselves 
under the shadow of the mighty hills, is his shaded and 
sunny home, ample as his heart, where he has dwelt in 
modest honor and abundant hospitality for many years. 
These more liberal and cultivated surroundings at once pro- 
duced a favorable effect upon young Carpenter's mind and 
broadened his view of the world and of his own future. 
He was sent to the more advanced and progressive schools 
of Waterbury, where the rivalry of older scholars and the 
spur of his growing ambition urged him on in his studies at 
an astonishing rate. He did not miss a term for four years, 
and was absent from his classes only on a very few occasions 
in which necessity made his presence impossible. 

Even at that period of his life, although he had not been 
honored as he was subsequently by the people of Vermont, 
Dillingham was a man of influence and high standing, whose 
personal acquaintances included all the leading men of the 
slate, many of whom were more or less frequent visitors at 

as well as legal form. He was then told he could come and at once begin 
attending the high school. He returned home on the following day, and 
two days later was taken by his father in a sleigh, called a "jumper," to his 
new residence. 



AT PAUL Dillingham's. 37 

his house. Thus brought in contact with the moving spirits of 
the time, an unmistakable suasion was exerted upon young 
Carpenter, confirming his ambitions, and giving him an early- 
insight into public life just as it was. His mind, always a 
perfect absorbent, made the most of all opportunities, treas- 
uring the anecdotes, the political events and the general in- 
formation thus obtained as eagerly as a miser hoards his 
gold. Thus the better schools, Mr. Dillingham's large li- 
brary, and frequent association with distinguished personages 
which he enjoyed at Waterbury, afforded opportunities for 
advancement and development the youth could not have had 
in his own home, and which undoubtedly gave bent and in- 
clination to his subsequent career. His record in school as 
to advancement and deportment was without equal in 
Waterbury, and his rapid acquirement of general informa- 
tion during vacations was equally remarkable. 

In a very few months after taking up his abode at Dilling- 
ham's, as the richer fields of literature were opened to him, the 
young student became more completely than ever enamored 
of books. He pursued his legal studies with avidity during 
holidays, interims and evenings, taking intense delight in the 
fundamental principles governing justice and equity, and in 
the decisions and arguments of the profoundest jurists of the 
age. But his mind was searching as well in all directions 
outside of the law for the fountains of knowledge, and he de- 
voured the works of general literature with such rapidity, 
and yet with such a clear understanding, as to astonish all his 
friends, not excepting his tutor. In this manner passed the 
first four and one-half years of Carpenter's residence with 
Mr. Dillingham, without the occurrence of any incident worth 
recording, except that before the expiration of that time he 
was frequently intrusted by his foster-father with the prep- 
aration of complaints, drafts of preliminary proceedings, gen- 
eral office and, during the last year, justice court business. 
At the age of eighteen, before entering the military acad- 
emy, Merritt Carpenter's thoroughness in searching out and 



38 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

arranging all existing confirmatory authorities and decisions 
on any given question had become a matter of common re- 
mark among the attorneys of Washington county, and Mr. 
Dillingham never hesitated to trust him implicitly in such 
labors, knowing they could not be in better hands. 

In a letter written at Waterbury in January, 1883, Mr. 
Dillingham makes reference to Carpenter's youth: 

Merritt came to our house and family at the age of fourteen years — no 
mistake about that.l I have a distinct recollection that when he was about 
six years of age I told him to be a good boy at home, go to school con- 
stantly and be the best pupil there, and when he was fourteen years of age 
come to my house and live with me, and I would make a lawyer of him. 
I forgot the promise, but he did not, and shortly before his fourteenth 
birthday (with nothing having been said about it in the meantime) he 
made his appearance, as told in public prints. Then the old promise came 
fresh to my mind, and I admired the boy's memory and trust. It was then 
and thereafter his one wish to become a lawyer, and a great lawyer ; and 
he looked through every difficulty in his way with a certain confidence 
that it would be accomplished. From this, my bargain with him, he at- 
tended the village school in Moretown constantly, and had learned all he 
could be taught by his instructors there. 

When he came to me we talked the future over together, and I advised 
that he attend our graded school until he should arrive at the age of eight- 
een, when I would try my best to get him a cadetship at West Point. In 
the four years that ensued he attended our school at all its terms, and the 
residue of the time he was in my office, and he was nowhere so happy as 
there. He did everything I wanted done when at home, and when I was 
absent he ran the office so far as justice business was concerned. 

I did not call him a law-student, but I found that he had thoroughly ac- 
quainted himself with the elementary principles of the law before he went 
to West Point in 1S43. 

After being at West Point two years he came home on sick-leave; and 
partly on account of his health, and partly on account of his ambition to 
become a lawyer, he resigned his cadetship in August, 1S45. From this 
time until November i, 1847, he was a most faithful and progressive stu- 
dent in my office. At the November term of our court in that year, on 
my motion and recommendation, he was admitted as an attorney. Chief 
Justice Redfield expressing gratification at his legal attainments and bright 
prospects of professional success. 

t This emphasis arose from the numerous contradictory reports on this 
point which had found their way into print and into popular circulation. 



TWO YEARS AT WEST POINT. 39 

This was done on the first day of the first week of the session. In two or 
three days after, Merritt left to go to Boston, there to finish his preparations 
for a professional Hfe. At Boston he entered the ofRce, and, after a time, 
the family, of Rufus Choate, who then stood on the pinnacle of profes- 
sional fame. He remained there until about June, 1848. During this time 
he was admitted to the superior court and the supreme court of Massa- 
chusetts. He then left for the west, as it was then called, his objective 
point being Beloit, Wisconsin, where he settled and opened an ofBce. 

TWO YEARS AT WEST POINT. 

The recorded history of Carpenter's career in the United 
States Military Academy at West Point is of a meager and 
formal character. He received his appointment through 
Congressman John Mattocks, of Vermont, a confidential 
friend of Paul Dillingham. He was admitted to that rigid 
school of thorough physical and mental training, with a class 
of fifty-two ^ others, July i, 1843. In those days it was con- 
sidered that a course at West Point carried with it no small 
degree of honor, and placed upon the graduate the seal of 
semi-aristocracy. But the academy, viewed from the fresh 
green hills of Vermont, presented more fascinations to the 
youth than after he had descended the Hudson and could 
observe its unbending discipline and well-defined class-castes 
from the close walls of the dormitory or section-room. It 
can not be positively stated that he entered the school fully 
intending to devote his life to the army. If he did, his ideas 

1 Julian McAllister, John C. Sjmmes, Daniel T. Van Buren, Daniel 
Beltzhoover, John Hamilton, Orlando B. Wilcox, Joseph J. Woods, John 
H. Dickerson, Samuel Chalfin, George Patten, Lewis C. Hunt, John S. 
Mason, Geo. W. Hazzard, Richard H. Long, H. B. Hendershott, John M. 
Hockaday, Otis H. Tillinghast, Romeyn B. Ayres, Mark W. Collett, 
Thomas H. Neill, Horatio G. Gibson, Charles Griffin, James R. Darra- 
cott, Egbert L. Viele, Augustus H. Seward, E. F. Abbott, P. W. L. Plymp- 
ton, James B. Fry, Caleb R. Layton, Ambrose E. Burnside, Geo. C. Barber, 
Edward D. Blake, Joseph S. Totten, Daniel Huston, Jr., Andrew Gil- 
braith Miller, Wm. H. Hill, Henry Heth, Tredwell Moore, John de Russy, 
Thomas A. Harris, John Bonnycastle, J. C. P. Smith, Washington P. 
Street, C. K. K. Ellis, Geo. H. Paige, J. B. Hogan, Jr., John L. Gamble, 
R. W. Jon^s, Henry B. Ware, T. O. Barry, Chas. F. Reed, and Walter S. 
Clark. 



4© LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

underwent a marked change in the course of a year. Dur- 
ing his second furlough home, after having carefully looked 
into the future of the average cadet, he imitated the military 
step and posture, and half- humorously, half-sarcastically, ex- 
plained : " I don't believe a man can ever become great by 
learning to walk a crack with a stiff neck and his fingers on 
the seams of his pantaloons!" 

The highest honors and emoluments of a military life were 
down in the books, he explained, and if he should ever attain 
them, the public would simply understand that he had faith- 
fully worn a regulation uniform the required number of 
years, and was being rewarded for it according to law. 
There was small honor in that, he declared, and he " would 
rather be somebody as the result of his own efTorts, upon the 
merit of individual achievements." Nevertheless, he con- 
tinued in the academy during another year, half-intending to 
graduate, believing the mental discipline thus to be obtained 
would be beneficial in after life. The close confinement of a 
cadet, however, was not only irksome to his spirit but injuri- 
ous to his health, and in August, 1845, while at home on a fur- 
lough on account of illness, he resigned. While he made as 
an excuse for this course the unfavorable efiect confinement 
had upon his physical condition, it is believed his heart was 
in the resignation. He had determined to become as great 
a lawyer as Daniel Webster or Rufus Choate, both then in 
the zenith of their professional glory, and longed to return to 
the fragrant paths leading in that direction. 

It was undoubtedly the highest of good fortune that Car- 
penter left the military academy, for to have finished the 
prescribed course might have thrown him into a fatal con- 
sumption; indeed, at the time he was granted the short fur- 
lough which he soon after made permanent by resignation, his 
condition was such as to excite the gravest apprehensions. 
One of his classmates. General Daniel T. Van Buren, says 
the general supposition was that " he had gone home to die." 
The very least that can be said, if Carpenter's resignation 



TWO YEARS AT WEST POINT. 4! 

did not save him from an early grave, is that, through his 
own philosophy and foresight, the military academy was not 
permitted to spoil one of the very greatest lawyers and 
orators of the Union for the sake of turning out an ordinary 
post-commander. 

The record of Carpenter's sojourn at West Point is as fol- 
lows, taken from the books of the institution, and attested by 
the superintendent: 

Decatur M. H. Carpenter, 

Name afterwards changed to 

Matt. H. Carpenter. i 

Admitted July i, 1843 — aged 18 years, 6 months. 

Born in Vermont. 

Residence, Waterbury, Washington Co., Vt. 

Father, Ira Carpenter, Moretown, Washington Co., VL 

yune, 1844 — 4th Class. 

Was in Mathematics 17 "] 

" French 14 [- Class of 53 members. 

" General merit 11 J 

yune, 184J — jd Class. 

Was in Mathematics 16 ^ 

" French 4 | 

' *' English Grammar, etc. . 1 1 !>■ Class of 44 members. 

" Drawing 34 | 

" General merit 10 J 

Resigned August 21, 1S45. 

Member of the Board of Visitors in 1871 from U. S. Senate. 

This record will bear some explanation. The fourth class 
is composed of those passing their first year; the third class 
of those in the second year, and so on. And further: "general 
merit, eleven," in the fourth class, means that out of a class 
of fifty-three members there were ten who averaged higher 
and forty-two lower than Carpenter in their studies and 
general progress and conduct. In his second year, or third 

1 This is not intended to indicate that Carpenter changed his name while 
in the academy, but the change he made in later years was thus recorded 
upon the books of the institution to show that D. M. H. and Matt. \l. 
Carpenter were not different individuals. 



42 LIFE OF CARPENTI^R. 

class, he stood unusually high — exxept in drawing, which 
had no charms whatever for him — for one not in love with 
the military profession. Several members of the class had 
studied French much longer than Carpenter, and three of 
them therefore stood technically higher; but none of them 
progressed so rapidly or spoke the language with such 
beauty and fluency. Some of his living classmates, in reply 
to letters of inquiry concerning his military tutelage, give a 
clear idea of the tall and handsome but sensitive Green 
Mountain boy of that day. Thus General Wilcox: 

Madison Barracks, Sackett's Harbor, Oct. 29, 1SS3. 

Dear Sir: — In reply to yours of 7th, I am glad to give you a good 
account of Matt. H. Carpenter's career at West Point. Though brief, it 
was brilliant. He stood high in his academic studies, was very unassum- 
ing, but an indefatigable, industrious, conscientious and energetic student 
and soldier. With many disadvantages against him, he pushed his way up 
among the head men of the class the first year, much to the surprise of 
more pretentious and self-asserting fellows. His mind was of a religious 
cast, and he developed but little of that bo}iJioinie y/hxch so eminently char- 
acterized him as a man. On the contrary, he was outwardly shy and retir- 
ing rather than forward in his class and social deportment; but inwardly 
there burned the fire of a Bayard. Why and how he ever became a politi- 
cian, I never krew, and I look forward with the greatest interest to the dis- 
covery in his forthcoming Life. O. B. Wilcox, 

Brev. Maj. Gen. 

Thus General Van Buren: 

Kingston, N. Y., Sept. 29, 1S83. 

Dear Sir: — In answer to yours of this month, I regret to say that my 
recollections of the late Matt. H. Carpenter, whilst he was a cadet, are very 
meagre. 

In personal appearance, he was tall, thin and angular, stoop-shouldered,l 
as if he had grown up too fast, with a fair, rosy, flushed face, and large, 
prominent nose. 

He was very studious, — a better scholar than soldier. His conduct was 
excellent; I do not think that he ever walked a "Saturday afternoon 
extra." 

He stood well in his class, somewhere above the middle of it, and resigned 
at the close of his second year on account of ill health. It was generally 

lOn leaving the academy, Carpenter showed no sign of having ever been 
as stoop-shouldered as his classmates describe him. He was just six feet 
in height, straight, and of almost absolutely perfect figure. 



TWO YEARS AT WEST POINT. 43 

understood that he was going home to die, his appearance indicating con- 
sumption well advanced. Indeed, I had supposed he was dead until he 
appeared as a conspicuous war orator and in the senate of the United 
States. Respectfully, 

Daniel T. Van Buren. 

General H. G. Gibson, of Fort McHenry, Baltimore, says 
"the most prominent recollection he has of his classmate at 
West Point, the late Senator Carpenter, is the fact of having 
sat beside him for a year in the section-room ; that he did 
not possess a very strong desire for a military career, and 
that, although standing high in his class and in discipline, he 
resigned with plain demonstrations of pleasure." 

Notwithstanding his well-marked dislike for military af- 
fairs, all accounts agree that Carpenter's career at West 
Point was really one of great promise. He was made " color 
corporal," a post of considerable honor among cadetmen. 
Gen. W. Merritt, superintendent of the military academy, 
says: "The color corporal here is selected from among the 
corporals of his class for his military bearing and neatness of 
dress and person. It is an honorable distinction among 
cadets. These corporals guard the colors while in ranks." 

After accepting his resignation, the superintendent of the 
academy sent to Carpenter a "certificate of proficiency," 
mentioninor these branches: 

o 

In the Department of Mathematics. — In p.lgebra, geometry and trigo- 
nometry, descriptive geometry, shades, shadows and perspective, spherical 
projections and warped surfaces, surveying, analytical geometry, and cal- 
culus. 

In the Departmental French. — In French grammar, Lecons Francaise, 
and Voyages du Jean Anachaisis. 

In the Department of Dra%ving. — Topography and the human figure. 

In the Department of English Grammar., etc. — Bullion's grammar, Wil- 
lett's geography. 

In the Department of Artillery and Cavalry. — In receiving practical 
instruction in the school of the piece and battery. 

In the senate. Carpenter frequently referred to his sojourn 
at West Point, and while sitting in that body always partici- 
pated actively and intelligently in whatever was intended to 



44 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

promote the welfare or usefulness of the institution. As a 
member of the board of visitors in 187 1, he made a thorough 
examination of the condition of the academy, and as chair- 
man of the committee on discipline, prosecuted an exhaustive 
investigation. He composed the chapter on discipline in the 
report made to the secretary of war for the information of 
congress, from which an interesting excerpt may be brought 
forward. After expressing in general terms the fact that the 
discipline was less strict than formerly, he wrote: 

Twenty-five years ago West Point was substantially separate from the 
outside world; for several months of the year a mail was not received 
oftener than once in three or four days. The presence of visitors was 
almost wholly unknown, and the officers and cadets formed a community 
by and of themselves. The relations existing between the officers and 
cadets was like that at present existing between the officers and soldiers at 
a military post. Cadets were permitted to visit at the quarters of professors 
and officers on Saturday afternoons, and at no other time. But so reserved 
were the manners of officers, even on such occasions, that the privilege, 
though recognized, was very rarely exercised. There was substantially no 
social intercourse between the officers and the cadets. In those days, too, 
the rigor of discipline put all cadets, the sons of the rich and the sons of the 
poor, upon a common footing. The regulations not only prohibited any 
cadet from receiving money from his parents and friends, but no place 
existed, or was permitted to exist, on the limits, where cadets could expend 
money. Occasionally a cadet was allowed to purchase what he pleased 
under the head of "sundries," not exceeding one dollar in amount, and that 
only on the order 01 an officer in charge. 

But all this has changed. West Point is now, or fast becoming, a place 
of fashionable resort. Hotels have been erected in near proximity to the 
post, and hundreds of visitors now repair thither where one did in former 
years. This influx of fashionable life has caused a relaxation of the rules 
in regard to cadets visiting. The great distance between officers and cadets 
has been gradually diminished. Cadets of the first class may now visit 
officers every day in the week, and officers and cadets associate together 
with a freedom of intercourse not formerly known. Insensibly the stand- 
ard of discipline has been lowered, until the academy has less than formerly 
the character of the regular army, and more the features of a militia estab- 
lishment, where officers and men are separated while on duty, but mingle 
in social intercourse when the hour of drill or parade has passed. 

Although the regulation in regard to cadets receiving money remains 
unchanged, yet, at present, a new functionary, known as the "cadet con- 



AGAIN AT Dillingham's. 45 

fectioner," is allowed to keep open on cadet limits a place of resort which 
cadets are known to frequent daily to enjoy the table, and where they may 
treat their fellows without stint or limit. Thus, one of the elements of 
equality which formerly existed among the cadets is destroyed, and the son 
of a wealthy man may fare sumptuously, while the poor boy must confine 
himself to such food as the mess-hall affords. 

He closed the chapter with the declaration that "an army- 
must be governed by different methods and upon different 
principles from a civil society, and to an army and to every 
military establishment discipline is a necessity." In addition 
to this, Carpenter made an enlarged and separate report, 
which included the testimony adduced by his committee. 

During a speech on the salary bill, delivered March i, 
1873, Carpenter ^^^^ made reference to his military tutelage : 

The most perfect equality between the sons of the rich and the sons of 
the poor that I ever saw was in the military academy at West Point 
twenty-five years ago. The pay of every cadet was the same, and no cadet 
was allowed to receive a cent from any relative or source whatever except 
the government. He was credited with his pay and charged with the 
things he was permitted to buy. I was there two years, and the only cent 
of money I saw during that time was a ten-cent piece that I picked up on 
the pavement one morning. As I could not spend it, I threw it into my 
trunk, and it remained there till I went on furlough. The result of that 
system was that merit, industry, brains alone determined the standing of a 
cadet. And not unfrequently the cadet who graduated at the head of his 
class was the son of a poor and obscure man. 

As long as he lived Carpenter never ceased to observe the 
good effects of West Point. The discipline strengthened his 
mind, and the knowledge of military afTairs obtained there 
was of value during the Rebellion, in congress, and in the 

courts. 

AGAIN AT DILLINGHAM'S. 

On returning to Dillingham's from West Point, Carpenter 
devoted himself to the law with greater enthusiasm and per- 
sistency than ever. The steady confinement which he thus 
imposed upon himself prevented him from growing as strong 
and robust as nature had designed ; nevertheless, his general 
health having become good soon after resigning the cadet- 



46 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

ship, SO continued during his subsequent period of study. 
His condition on his return, however, was a matter of con- 
siderable apprehension among liis friends. He was pale and 
slim — so thin, in fact, that his father related he could easily 
compass the youth's waist with his thumbs and middle 
fingers. The return to mountain air and outdoor freedom 
undoubtedly saved Carpenter's life. 

The two years following the abandonment of West Point 
may be said to have been uneventful. In addition to his close 
application to the law and general literature, he made a study 
of orators and oratory, and attended the meetings of a local 
literary club, always participating in its debates, and rarely 
failing to win his side of the case, no matter whether it w^as 
right or wrong. He thus earned a reputation for close and 
eloquent reasoning as well as for thorough study and re- 
search. So far had this reputation extended, that during 
Dillingham's absence in congress Carpenter was invited to 
go some distance from Waterbury to a secluded neighbor- 
hood and speak at the usual religious revival inaugurated 
for the long winter months. Thinking it a fair opportunity 
to further test and strengthen his powers as a public speaker, 
the invitation was accepted. For almost a week, without 
the knowledge of any one in Waterbury, accompanied by a 
bright and mischievous young law-student named Demmon, 
Carpenter drove daily to the scene of the revival, and there, 
during the evenings, expounded the Bible and enlarged upon 
Christian ethics. The regularity of his absence and the 
lateness of his return aroused the curiosity of members of 
the family, who raised inquiries for discovering why and 
whither he went. Thereupon the revival business was 
brought to a sudden close. Those who were listeners on 
that curious occasion reported that Carpenter's ways were 
very winning and his speaking interesting and cfiective. 

In 1847, having arrived at such proficiency as secured a 
creditable admission to the bar. Carpenter received from Dil- 
lingham a generous proposition of partnership arrangements. 



AGAIN AT Dillingham's. 47 

Although flattered by the offer, he did not accept, having 
previously resolved to settle in the boundless and growing 
west, where opportunities for advancement seemed to be 
more numerous and promising. In order to be fully pre- 
pared to make the most of whatever the west might offer, 
he proposed to go to Boston and serve an apprenticeship 
under Rufus Choate, the unrivaled jury-lawyer of Massa- 
chusetts. Therefore, two days after being admitted to the 
bar at Montpelier, he started for Boston, with Mr. Dilling- 
ham's blessing: " Merritt, if you shall pursue in the future 
the course which you have thus far followed, you will cer- 
tainly become a successful lawyer and a popular citizen ; and 
if you ever want money, a friend or a home, remember that 
my purse, myself and my house will be at your service." 

Thus he bade good-bye to Waterbury. The parting with 
Mrs. Dillingham and the children was tender and affection- 
ate, for he did not know whether he would ever return. 
They afterward saw him under different conditions, in the 
early spring of 1850, when he arrived at the Dillingham 
homestead from the New York Infirmary, a black shade for 
his useless eyes half-hiding his pale but cheerful face. He 
then remained in Waterbury several weeks before returning 
permanently to Wisconsin. 

Mr. Dillingham finally became Carpenter's father-in-law, 
and at various periods was associated with him in carrying 
on several of those business enterprises which depended 
particularly upon legal proceedings for their outcome. The 
peculiarly strong relations of father and son, adviser and 
friend, which subsisted between them for a dozen years in 
Vermont, continued undiminished and unbroken through 



48 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER III. 

A JOURNEY TO BOSTON — RUFUS CHOATE. 

In his earliest years of ambition Carpenter was a strong 
admirer of Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate, and the great 
esteem in which they were held by the public made a deep 
and lasting impression on his mind. He resolved to visit 
both of them, in order to learn whether they were like other 
men, and, if possible, study in their offices the methods and 
secrets which had won such lofty positions and such univer- 
sal public applause. Mr. Dillingham had some acquaintance 
with Choate, and so, with letters of introduction from him 
and others. Carpenter started for Boston, Oliver Wendell 
Holmes' " Hub of the Universe," in November, 1847. The 
journey was mostly accomplished by stage, but he entered 
Boston on the first railroad built out of that city, toward 
Lowell. That was his first ride after the " iron horse," and 
proved to be an interesting event. He examined the coaches, 
tracks and locomotives very carefully, and wrote to his friends 
in Vermont that " steam was so far ahead of all other modes 
of travel and transportation that it was certain to come into 
general and profitable use." It is superfluous to refer to the 
extent to which he saw that prediction fulfilled, made, as it 
was, when thousands were declaring that railways were too 
costly and too dangerous to ever become popular or profit- 
able. 

After arriving in Boston he wandered about the city for 
some time before finally discovering the modest sign, " R. 
Choate, Counsellor at Law," which hung in Court Square. 
He glanced up at the windows above, to see if he could dis- 
cover any unusual face, such as might belong to R. Choate, 
but saw none. He therefore ascended the stairs, and, upon 
entering, inquired if Choate was in. He was not, the clerks 
replied, eying the tall Green Mountain boy, who, Mr. Crown- 



FINDING FAVOR IN CHOATE S EYES. 49 

inshield (Choate's law partner) afterward said, "though 
neatly attired, was not dressed in the latest Boston fashion." 
Young Carpenter then inquired when the great advocate 
would be in, and received in reply the query of what business 
he desired to have with Choate. Although this rather lead- 
ing question was repeated several times by the tantalizing 
clerks, they did not find out what he wanted, but he finally 
learned from them, what they undoubtedly did not intend he 
should, that Choate would be in at three o'clock that afternoon. 
At that hour Carpenter called again, and after considerable 
delay was shown into Choate's room. He found the famous 
lawyer stretched on a sofa, weary from a hard day's work 
in an important trial. Taking the young stranger by the 
hand, Choate kindly asked what he could do for him. Car- 
penter exhibited his letters of introduction, told who he was 
and what he wanted, and ended by saying that he had jour- 
neyed from Vermont to enter the office and study the meth- 
ods of the greatest jury-lawyer in Massachusetts, in order to 
be able to follow his example and reap similar rewards. 

The winsome face, modest demeanor, simple statements 
and apparent ambition of young Carpenter made a favorable 
impression upon Choate, who called to an attendant in an 
adjoining room to know if there was a place for another 
student. The reply came back that there was none. " Then," 
said Choate, " I shall have to give you a place in my private 
office. You may come to-morrow morning." 

FINDING FAVOR IN CHOATE'S EYES. 

A small desk was ordered and placed in his own private 
room by Choate, with instructions to the clerks to allow 
the new student to enter the office and occupy it. Ac- 
cordingl}^, next morning bright and early Carpenter was at 
his desk, greatly pleased with his success in attaining at once 
the very object that had so long been the fondest wish of his 
heart. When Choate arrived he was not a little gratified to 
note that Carpenter had discovered some of his most im- 



5© LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

portant printed briefs and opinions, and was deeply absorbed 
in their perusal, marking paragraphs and sentences here and 
there on their pages. Before going to court, Choate handed 
to his new student a letter from an attorney of Exeter, New 
Hampshire, asking an opinion upon a somewhat intricate 
question of law, and told him to answer it. This was doubt- 
less done more to test Carpenter's abilities than with any 
idea that the work would really be satisfactorily accom- 
plished. Carpenter worked diligently upon the complex 
question, hunting through Choate's fine library for authori- 
ties and decisions in such a rapid and masterly manner as to 
astonish all the clerks. When he had satisfied himself on all 
the points involved, he embodied the result of his researches 
in a handsomely-written letter, stating the principles and au- 
thorities in a clear and concise form, and laid the document 
on Choate's desk. An hour later Choate returned and found 
the paper complete. He sat down at once and carefully read 
every line of it, and when he had finished the last page, 
pushed down his spectacles, peered over the sheets he had 
been reading and silently studied for some moments the head 
and face of his student. Thoroughly surprised, he could not 
resist gratifying his desire to have a quiet study of the young 
man who had exceeded all his expectations. He then said: 
"Well, judge, I guess I can put R. Choate to the end of 
/ that and tell that lawyer to send me one hundred dollars." 

Thereupon the startling scrawl then current in Boston as 
the sign-manual of Rufus Choate was affixed, the opinion 
was inclosed in a note, written by Carpenter, asking for a 
fee of one hundred dollars, and sent to Exeter. In due 
time the money returned, and thereafter Choate generally 
addressed Carpenter as , " the judge," though sometimes he 
made use of his given-name, Merritt. A strong and broth- 
erly attachment now sprung up between Choate and Car- 
penter, which grew warmer and stronger until death put an 
end to earthly friendships. 

Many of Carpenter's first ideas about books were obtained 



ENTERS CHOATE S FAMILY. 5 1 

from Choate, and his advice to the students of the Colum- 
bian law school — " to purchase all the books they could for 
cash or credit" — was but a repetition, in different form, of 
Choate's injunction when his beloved young student started 
for the west. The training and counsel he thus received 
strengthened and benefited his whole after life. Choate 
was the king of jury-lawyers, and combined w^ith exalted 
genius, to an unusual extent, practical methods and common 
wisdom, and spent a great deal of time in transmitting them 
to Carpenter, in explaining intricate points of law, and in 
teaching him the secrets of controlling the court or a jury. 
He also taught his devoted and admiring student the great 
advantage resulting from that patient study and preparation 
of a case which made the attorney ready for all surprises, 
pitfalls and technicalities. Carpenter often said that Rufus 
Choate told him never to leave a case " until he had become 
fully satisfied and convinced upon its every phase and ques- 
tion," and he always followed the advice. Choate also told 
him to study principles — to become familiar with all the 
underlying elements of the laws of the world, and he would 
be prepared for the equity of any possible matter that could 
come up in a life-time of legal practice. This theory Car- 
penter followed to a greater extent even than had his pre- 
ceptor, for he purchased and devoured all the decisions, 
reports, commentaries and treatises published in the English 
language. 

ENTERS CHOATE'S FAMILY. 

In a few months after Carpenter went to Boston, Choate's 
eyes became very weak; in fact, temporarily useless. Car- 
penter then acted as his amanuensis, and those he always 
referred to as his richest days with Choate, a man who fairly 
reveled in literature and all descriptions of learning. He 
discovered what were his preceptor's favorite books, how he 
studied them, how he prepared cases and arguments; in 
short, learned all his secrets of work and business. During 



52 LIFE OF CARrENTi:R. 

this period of harvest, Carpenter was an inmate of Choate's 
family, as well as his companion in court and in almost all 
other places. He therefore could and frequently did relate 
many interesting incidents that came under his actual ob- 
servation. Among others he often told this: Choate was 
once indulging in the luxury of " a little good wine," when 
footsteps were heard on the outside. "Merritt, get that 
decanter and those glasses out of the way quick; that step 
hath a Congregational sound," said Choate. The decanter 
and glasses were hardly out of sight, when, with a rap at 
the door, in walked the Rev. Nehemiah Adams, Choate's 
pastor. 

In the spring of 1848, upon Choate's motion. Carpenter 
was admitted to practice before the supreme court of Massa- 
chusetts. But he looked the field over — occupied by Web- 
ster, Choate, Curtis, and scores of lesser but still distinguished 
practitioners — and concluded Massachusetts was not the 
place for a young man without means or reputation. He 
had, before leaving Vermont, told Mr. Dillingham that he 
should probably go west, in the wisdom of which opinion his 
foster-father concurred. He announced to Choate that 
Boston was no place for poor young lawyers, and that he 
intended to start soon for Wisconsin, which was about to be 
admitted into the Union as a state.' Choate replied: "I 
honor your determination, but I was selfish enough to hope 
you might remain with me; yet, as you have resolved upon 
this step, you would better not recede from it. Neverthe- 
less, you can always rely upon my friendship. Have you 
any mone}''?" 

Carpenter replied that he had no means with which to 
purchase a law library. " Go, then," said Choate, " to Little, 
Brown & Co., select your books, and refer them to me for 
security." Carpenter was delighted beyond expression at 
this substantial mark of esteem and confidence, and at the 

1 Admitted Mav 29, 1848. 



ENTERS CHOATE's FAMILY. 53 

prospect of being able to take a library with him — the idea 
of going to a new country as an attorney with no books hav- 
ing deeply concerned his mind from the day he resolved to 
go west. He went to the great house of Little, Brown & 
Co., and selected not only what he conceived would be a 
pretty good assortment of books for a new country, but a 
pretty heavy draught upon Choate's guaranty of credit. He 
took the list back to Choate, who, after glancing over it, said : 
"Your list is too small;" and taking up a catalogue, marked 
an admirable collection, to the value of about one thousand 
dollars — a very large sum in those days for a young and 
briefless barrister — and added, " With these tools you can 
begin something like effective work." Carpenter's serious 
affliction of the eyes, after he went to Beloit, prevented the 
payment of the notes given for the books when they fell due, 
and Choate either carried the debt or guarantied its pay- 
ment, Little, Brown & Co. have now forgotten which. In 
this connection, the subjoined letter from Choate's son-in-law 
may be of interest: 

Boston, Dec. 27, 1882. 

Dear Sir: — 

jf * * 4i * ***■»* 

In the winter of 1873, I was in Washington, and had two or three long 
talks with Mr. Carpenter. He talked a great deal of Mr. Choate, and told 
me, in substance, that when he was about to start for the west, Mr. Choate 
said to him that a good law library would be found to be a scarcity in that 
country, and therefore a great necessity to him ; that, owing to the absence 
of law books, his possession of a good assortment of them would be a 
material factor in his future and early success. Mr. Carpenter replied that 
while all that was very true, he had no money with which to purchase a 
library, and therefore must get along, as did the others, without one. 
Thereupon, Mr. Choate proceeded to Little, Brown & Co., the largest law- 
publishing firm here, selected a library for young Carpenter, and guaran- 
tied the pay for it. 

Mr. Carpenter told me that if, by walking barefooted to Boston and back 
to Washington, he could in any way add to the prosperity or comfort of 
Mr. Choate's family, he would gladly undertake the journey. 

Edward Ellerton Pratt. 



54 LIFE OF CARPENTER. • 

In volume I of John W. Forney's " Anecdotes of Public 
Men," are recorded almost the same facts as appear in the 
foregoing letter, with the additional statement that Carpenter 
was in a comparatively short time enabled to liquidate the 
debt. Mr. Forney closed the reminiscence by relating that 
he heard Carpenter say: " As long as life lasts I shall never 
cease to cherish the name of Rufus Choate, and I would 
walk from here to Boston barefooted to serve any of his 
kith or kin." This letter from Little, Brown & Co. will add 
authenticity to the account: 

No. 254 Washington Street, Boston, Dec. 30, 1SS2. 
Dear Sir : — Mr. Carpenter was introduced to us by Mr. Choate as one 
interested in books and in whom we could place confidence. From that 
moment Mr. Carpenter became a bujer of books, not only professional but 
works in general literature. His selections always showed good judgment 
and great familiarity with authors. He continued these relations with us 
through life, and we were always glad to have his name on our books.l He 
met some misfortunes in his earliest struggles, but we do not think Mr. 
Choate ever really had to pay for the purchases he guarantied for Mr. Car- 
penter. Respectfully, 

Little, Brown & Co. 

PREPARING TO LEAVE BOSTON. 

When Carpenter was ready for the journey to Wisconsin, 
Choate asked him how much money he had. The amount 
was small, and the reply slow in getting out. Carpenter, 
however, finally admitted the unpleasant truth, but added 
that he could get whatever might be necessary from Mr. 
Dillinirham, in Vermont. Choate did not seem to notice the 
last portion of the reply, but counted out for his young friend 
a sum sufficient to liquidate the cost of traveling between 
Boston and Beloit, and handed it to him with a written intro- 
duction and recommendation, which Carpenter subsequently 

IThe inquiry which brought this answer from Little, Brown & Co. 
caused them to look over their account with Carpenter. As a result, Mrs. 
Carpenter soon received a draft for $33 — the amount they discovered 
Carpenter had overpaid them during his life-time. 



TENDER GRATITUDE. 55 

had placed in a neat frame, and which still occupies a con- 
spicuous place in the library of the family residence in Mil- 
waukee: 

Boston, May 25, 1848. 

I have great pleasure in stating that D. M. H. Carpenter, Esquire, is 

well known to me; that his character is excellent; his talents of a very 

high order; his legal attainments very great for his time of life; and that 

his love of labor and his fondness for his profession insure his success 

wheresoever he may establish himself. He studied the law in my office 

for the closing portion of his term, and I part with him with great regret. 

To the profession and the public I recommend [him] as worthy of the 

utmost confidence, honor and patronage. 

RuFUS Choate, 

Counsellor at Law. 
TENDER GRATITUDE. 

As will appear subsequently, in the account of Carpenter's 
blindness, Choate's friendship again took substantial form in 
several instances ; but eventually, when he had emerged from 
all his early misfortunes, Carpenter paid every dollar of these 
obligations. A fine bust of Choate, that seemed to possess 
every attribute of the great pleader save the power of 
speech, always had the place of honor in Carpenter's house, 
and he never showed it to his friends without expressing the 
warmest affection for its gifted original. 

In his great speech in the United States senate on the 
memorable resolution of Charles Sumner relative to the sale 
of arms to the French by the agent of Remington & Sons 
during the Franco-Prussian war. Carpenter uttered the fol- 
lowing splendid tribute: 

Mr. Choate had been a member of this body ; he stood at the head of the 
legal profession of his native state and had no superior at any bar, English 
or American. As an advocate, he had no peer. In this department of his 
profession, I do not believe his equal ever lived. A mass of uninteresting 
facts, the tedious details of the dryest subject, touched by his magic wand, 
stood forth to the quickened apprehension of court or jury with the beauty 
and freshness of spring; and his nervous oratory and magnetic eloquence 
moved the tenderest emotions and strongest passions of men, as the wind 
sways the forest. With international and municipal law, and especially 



56 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

with constitutional law, he was entirely familiar. He was full of learning, 
but not incumbered by it, for the details of his knowledge were not attached 
to him, like the merchandise strapped to a dromedary, but were digested, 
assimilated, made part of himself, by the fusing power of his transcendent 
genius. He was a great man in every way. 

Choate's written indorsement of Carpenter was of great 
value in the west. It caused the young lawyer to "pass 
current " among strangers, until he had wrought out for him- 
self fame and credit. 



SETTLING IN WISCONSIN. 57 

CHAPTER IV. 

SETTLING IN WISCONSIN. 

Having declined a partnersliip with his foster-father, as 
well as a warm invitation to remain in Boston, and having 
procured a law library, as related, Carpenter was prepared 
to bid adieu to the friends, refinements and luxuries of an 
old community, and take up his abode among the eager, 
shrewd and energetic strangers of the west. He had been 
advised to settle in Iowa, but thought more favorably of 
Wisconsin, which had just submitted a constitution for a 
state government to the popular vote for adoption or rejec- 
tion. He had previously intimated to Choate, that, if the 
people of the territory should adopt the constitution and 
apply to congress for admission to the Union as a state, he 
would at once start for Beloit, a village in Rock county, in 
which several Vermont people were settlers. The election 
to decide whether the proposed state constitution should be 
adopted or rejected, took place March 13, 1848, and resulted 
favorably, but Carpenter did not learn the fact positively 
until the latter part of April, owing to unavoidable delay in 
securing the returns from remote precincts, the absence of 
railway and telegraphic communication with the west, and 
the slow travel of stages over the heavy roads of the spring 
season. 

Packing his books, and purchasing for a small sum those 
portions of a new suit of clothing most needed, Carpenter 
was ready, toward the close of May, to bid adieu to New i ? 
England. Passing over the mountains to Vermont, he spent 
a day or two each at Moretown, Waterbury and Burlington. 
At the latter place his future wife, then a young girl, was at- 
tending school with an elder sister, and he went to pay them 
a farewell visit. Both were sorrowful when he bade them 
good-bj'^e, for it was then considered that Wisconsin was on 



58 LIFE OF CARrENTER. 

the very confines of human habitations, and that whoever set- 
tled among its Indians and forests would never again be seen 
alive in New England. Farewells over, the ambitious young 
lawyer turned his face westward. Although he compassed 
a portion of the distance by steamboat on the lakes, taken as 
a whole the journey was long and tedious, owing to the 
rough roads and the overloaded condition of the stage- 
coaches, emigration to the west then being at high-tide. He 
afterward said that the ride from Boston to Beloit was the 
most discouraging undertaking of his life, and that more 
than once, w^hile threading vast forests yet undisturbed by the 
ax, or miring across miles and miles of beautiful but unin- 
habited prairie, he felt that railroads and civilization could 
never reach Wisconsin during his hfe-time. He also thought, 
when wallowing through an Illinois bog, wet and hungry, 
that no young man ever departed from such a pleasant home 
as Dillingham's, or refused more promising ofiers of business 
relations than he had left behind. 

DISAPPOINTED IN BELOIT. 

Arriving at Beloit on a warm day in June, he was happily 
disappointed to find everything contrary to expectations. 
Civilization had been a much earlier settler in Rock county 
than himself, and he found Beloit a beautiful and growing 
village of twelve hundred inhabitants, thriftily hugging a fine 
water-power on Rock river, and surrounded by farming lands 
unsurpassed for richness and beaut3^ David Noggle, Hazen 
Cheney, and one or two other attorneys, had opened offices 
in the village, and he found grist-mills, machine-shops, a fe- 
male ^minary, several churches, and one hundred and sev- 
enty natives of Vermont all in a prosperous condition. A 
college building had also been erected, a learned faculty had 
been chosen, and the rates for the opening term in Septem- 
ber were advertised. Material was also on the ground for 
the publication of a newspaper, which appeared a few days 
later. 



RENTS AN OFFICE. 59 

Carpenter was attracted to Beloit by "The New England 
Emigrating Company," formed in 1836 in New Hampshire 
and Vermont by Dr. Horace White, father of the well- 
known journalist and political economist of the same name. 
He found it all that had been represented, and the doubts 
and misgivings of the tiresome journey gave way to feel- 
ings of perfect satisfaction and delight before the natural at- 
tractions of the place and its apparent promise of future 
growth and prosperity, in which, of course, he would be a 
participant. 

It has been stated that Rufus Choate loaned Carpenter 
such a sum of money as would probably maintain his pas- 
sage to the west and leave something with which to start in 
business in his new home. The journey was so long and 
costly that when the young lawyer reached Beloit his entire 
cash possessions, except seventy-five cents in jingling silver 
coins, had been consumed. 

And thus can be presented, unburdened by numerous de- 
scriptions and cumbrous terms, an inventory of all that con- 
stituted the foundation upon which Carpenter began the 
most brilliant and distinguished career belonging to any citi- 
zen of Wisconsin, to wit: A good library, a well-anchored 
ambition to excel in his profession, a handsome figure and 
winning countenance, an inexhaustible supply of good hu- 
mor, an unusually liberal education for that day, a prodigious 
capacity for labor and research, and seventy-five cents in 
silver. 

RENTS AN OFFICE. 

Carpenter rented an office of Bicknell Brothers, in the sec- 
ond story of their solid stone block and over their drug-store. 
He opened the boxes containing his library and arranged the 
volumes tastefully in the office. Their number, fine binding 
and costliness became the talk of the village. Thus the ad- 
vent of the young attorney received a liberal advertisement 
without any effort on his part, and the people at the same 
time conceived a high opinion of his ability and learning. 



6o LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

After taking one or two meals at the hotel, he discovered 
that without a change of programme his money would soon 
be gone, and therefore requested the Bicknells to direct him 
to a less costly boarding-place. They introduced him to the 
Atwood family, with whom he boarded for some months. 
Dr. C. H. Bicknell, who still survives, testifies that Carpen- 
ter, after a few weeks, always paid not only his office rent 
and board bills, but all other obligations, promptly and with 
apparent self-gratification. If he did not have sufficient ready 
money for any purpose, he was so popular that anybody 
was willing to grant him the favor of a loan. 

After renting an office and arranging his books. Carpenter 
felt the need of a sign, a " shingle." Thrusting either hand 
gently into his pockets, he discovered the homeopathic bolus 
of silver had departed. Nevertheless there must be a sign- 
board to direct people to his office. A painter was found, and 
an order left for as handsome a sign as could be painted — " D. 
M. H. Carpenter, counselor at law." Two days later he was 
again revolving the subject in his mind. The job was done, 
and how to get it without cash or credit was the problem, 
though only the sum of fifty cents was involved. He could 
not go in person and beg to be trusted for that insignificant 
amount ; so hailing a small boy he ordered, with the air of a 
millionaire: " Go over to Smith's and tell him to send up my 
sign, with his bill." Within five minutes the lad returned, 
carefully bearing at arm's length the coveted and glittering 
sign. In a few days Carpenter borrowed fifty cents and paid 
the painter, at the same time relating how deeply he had been 
chagrined over a matter which, though infinitely small, was 
yet too great for his financial resources. 

In those early days there were no railways, telegraph lines 
or daily newspapers to crowd the little New England com- 
munity with startling news and momentous events. The 
probable history of new-comers, local enterprises and neigh- 
borhood transactions limited the field of interest and gossip, 
and thus every person became well-known of every other 



SOCIAL ADVANCEMENT. 6l 

person. Therefore, that Carpenter had come from dis- 
tinguished surroundings; that he was the -protege of Paul 
Dillingham; that he had spent two years at West Point; 
that he was the ward of the great Rufus Choate; that he had 
the finest library in the country and was the best-looking 
young man in Rock county, passed from mouth to mouth for 
miles around with a rapidity and relish not known to modern 
times. But a brief period elapsed before he had a client, 
and as the legal business in a small way was very good in 
those days, one case brought another, and Carpenter soon 
enjoyed a practice as large as that of any attorney in Beloit. 
Then, as always afterward, much of his business brought no 
fees. He gave his services to all comers, whether they could 
pay or not. This trait became well understood, and was 
employed to impose on Carpenter's generosity by many who 
were in reality able to pay. Hence his income was probably 
less than that of David Noggle, Hazen Cheney or John M. 
Keep, rival attorneys. 

SOCIAL ADVANCEMENT. 

Socially Carpenter became popular in a very brief period. 
Everybody was young, spirited and joyous, and as the old 
survivors depose, " he was the gem of the town." Although 
the only time he was ever known to dance in Beloit was at 
the opening of a hotel, he was invited to and present at every 
social gathering, no matter what its character, and was gen- 
erally the center of considerable attraction. His military step 
and bearing and his attractive face and figure, made him a 
favorite with the softer sex, while his wit, learning, genius 
and humor drew the attention of all others. He invariably 
attended church and the evening gatherings of the church 
people, and never failed to respond liberally at " mite societies " 
and to the passing contribution box. On one occasion, in the 
autumn of 1848, he was introduced to the ladies of a sewing 
society. After a season of light conversation, during which 
a crowd pressed around the young visitor, some one raised 



62 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

the cry* " a speech, a speech ! " Carpenter's friends were in 
a state of trepidation, not understanding how he could re- 
spond in a speech on an occasion like that, or how he could 
otherwise extricate himself. To their delight and astonish- 
ment, however, he arose with the utmost good humor and 
self-possession, delivering a speech of rare felicity. The sur- 
roundings, those for the promotion of charity, instead of being 
such as to embarrass him, were just the ones to call out his 
finest eloquence. 

Carpenter's rapid social advancement was the result of no 
steps of his own in that direction, though he was from child- 
hood a lover of congenial company and good cheer. His 
education, previous condition and natural endowments placed 
him somewhat above the ordinary level in a village of more 
than the usual advancement and culture of the new west, 
and people clustered about him as a pleasant leader. 

TRAINS A MILITARY COMPANY.^ 

In front of Carpenter's office was a beautiful level plat of un- 
occupied land, covered with fresh, green grass. He suggested 
that it would be an admirable drill-ground, and that a 
military company be formed to take advantage of its eligi- 
bility. In a brief period the suggestion was acted upon and 
a company was organized, Beloit containing at that time but 
a small number of men who were either too old or too 
young for military service. Carpenter, having been at West 
Point, was unanimously chosen drill-master. The members 
of the company were highly pleased when he first came 
down to drill them. His military coat was buttoned closely 
across the breast, and he walked up and down in front of 
the line to show them the erect figure and measured but spir- 
ited tread of a regular. For some time the meetings were 
prompt and full. The boys thought the village could easily 
be transformed, for public occasions at least, into regular 
army barracks, and that in a few months everybody would 
look as gallant and distinguished as their drill-master. But 



TRAINS A MILITARY COMPANY. 63 

they soon discovered that a good military company is the 
absolute servant of its commander, and that proficiency in 
maneuvres and perfection in military carriage can only be 
achieved after long and faithful discipline. Carpenter, de- 
termined they should achieve this, put them through accord- 
ing to the most rigid rules of the regular army, demanding 
quick and stfict obedience of all. He would pass in the rear 
of the line and straighten the stoop-shouldered, stiffen the 
lop-headed, and square up those whose knees had an inward 
and heels an outward draw. Three or four of the most head- 
strong, who cared more for the display and the name of be- 
longing to a military company than for the discipline and real 
benefits to accrue, were decidedly averse to being thus " or- 
dered around," and, after indignantly informing the drill- 
master that "he couldn't show off on them any more," 
resigned. This left the company harmonious, and its affairs 
moved forward in pleasant prosperity. This early military 
organization, undoubtedly the first in the state of Wisconsin, 
became pleasantly proficient in warlike tactics, and was a 
source of much pride to the citizens of Beloit as well as of 
credit to Carpenter, who bestowed his time and learning for 
the benefit of the public. The few survivors speak with 
pride of their connection with it, and with affection and ad- 
miration for Carpenter, who was a model drill-master. 



64 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER V. 

A LONG PERIOD OF DARKNESS. 

Suddenly, with no apparent cause, during the autumn of 
1848, Carpenter was prostrated by a violent attack of inflam- 
mation of the eyes. The local physicians, of whom Beloit 
then contained a half-dozen, oflered all the relief in their 
power, but were unable to cope with the disease, which for 
a time obstinately held its own as inflammation, and then as- 
sumed a more complicated and dangerous form, steadil}' 
growing worse. He continued to take cases for trial before 
justices and to go out into the country to manage them. At 
this time he had a room-mate named E. P. King, still a resi- 
dent of Beloit, who looked up authorities, performed the 
necessary writing, and went with Carpenter into court to ren- 
der any aid that might be required. The people sympa- 
thized with Carpenter in this heavy affliction and brought 
more cases than ever to him, so that blindness increased 
rather than diminished his professional business. With the 
kind help of Mr. King he continued to serve his clients, con- 
trary' to the advice of physicians, who forbade labor and ex- 
citement of every kind. He had the treatment of all the 
doctors in Beloit, but was impatient of their eiTorts because 
they did not heal his eyes. This impatience, together with 
his persistent labors, made it impossible for human skill to 
advance him in any perceptible degree toward convales- 
cence. He was therefore advised to go to Delavan, in an 
adjoining county, where he would find complete rest and an 
oculist of some note. By this time Carpenter had to be led 
everywhere by Mr. King, and never left the room without a 
heavy green veil over his face, which was frequently supple- 
mented by a close bandage. The advice to go to Delavan 
was urgent, and notwithstanding the cold weather and rough 
roads, he determined to heed it. Bundled up like a little 
babe from head to foot, accompanied by his faithful friend 



A LONG PERIOD OF DARKNESS. 65 

King, he beat across the country to a little village in Wal- 
worth county, and there, living in a bad hotel and under the 
treatment of a charlatan, he remained during a period of ten 
days, perhaps a fortnight. There King read Shakespeare, 
Scott, Erskine and the Bible to his afflicted patient to no 
purpose. He chafed under the ineffectual treatment of the 
pretended oculist, and returned to Beloit worse rather than 
better. Here, for a brief period, he refrained from labor, his 
physicians having otherwise refused to treat him. He had 
kind care from the friends and relatives of the Atwood 
household, and from Mr. King, who, like a close and faithful 
companion, led him about and read to him from choice vol- 
umes by the hour every day and evening. At first Carpen- 
ter shortened the days by playing checkers, a game of which 
he was exceedingly fond, and in which he was an expert; 
but soon he became too blind for this, and, of course, for 
participation in any other recreation or labor. The reading, 
music and conversation of others were then drawn upon 
more heavily than ever. 

Up to this time the power of the organs of sight had not 
been impaired except from sympathy, the partial loss of their 
use resulting from the inflamed and swollen condition of the 
lids. But it was becoming apparent that the orbs themselves 
were weakening, and that, unless relief should soon be af- 
forded, he would entirely lose the use of them. Under these 
circumstances, Dr. Bicknell advised his patient to go to New 
York without delay and enter the noted eye infirmary, then 
under the direction of Dr. Kearney Rogers. In fact he was 
told by the Beloit physicians that his sight probably could 
never be fully restored, and certainly not even partially re- 
tained, unless no time were lost in seeking special skill and 
special facilities for treatment. Struck with horror by the 
thought of a life-time of darkness, in which all reading, 
writing, professional labors and literary pursuits must be 
abandoned or carried on through an amanuensis, he pre- 
pared with all possible haste to do as advised. 
5 



66 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

IN NEW YORK. 

Early in 1849, having gathered about $50, Carpenter un- 
dertook what, in a fair summer atmosphere, would be a 
perilous journey for a person in his condition, but which was 
rendered ten-fold more precarious by the bad roads and in- 
clement weather. Having paid the bills of passage, he dis- 
covered, on arrival in New York, that his cash possessions 
would meet the demands of the landlady for only a few 
weeks. A kind-hearted Mrs. Green was the proprietor of 
the boarding-house connected with the infirmary, and Car- 
penter obtained quarters with her temporarily. But, finding 
that she and her family were unusually obliging and attentive, 
and, above all, that her charges were moderate, he concluded 
to remain wdth her as long as it might be necessary to con- 
tinue in the city, which he did. The patient did not make 
his straitened financial condition known to Dr. Rogers or 
Mrs. Green, but at once dispatched a letter to Rufus Choate, 
giving an account of his misfortune, describing how, blind- 
folded, he had " staggered from Beloit to New^ York," as the 
last and only hope of saving his eye-sight, and confessing a 
lack of the funds necessary to enable him to remain in the 
infirmary until healed. The letter was not scaled, however, 
until Carpenter had expressed sanguine hopes of professional 
and financial success in his thrifty western home, whenever 
he should be sufficientl}'' recovered to return to his labors. 
In the shortest possible time, an answer to this note was 
received. It contained not only a sympathetic and cheering 
letter from the great jurist, but a check for a liberal sum of 
money, and an invitation to call upon him for further assist- 
ance, whenever circumstances might render such a course 
necessary. 

Carpenter had been in the infirmary but a few days when 
he became totally blind — the dark event prophesied by the 
Beloit physicians. He was naturally greatly alarmed, and 
asked Dr. Rogers' opinion concerning the case, saying he 



THE ANGEL MOTHER. 67 

wanted to know the worst. The doctor replied that he was 
not hopeless of effecting a cure, though the disease had 
become a very complicated one, with the chances between 
recovery and permanent or partial blindness about evenly 
divided. This was indeed gloomy news to one who loved 
the use of all his faculties as fondly as did Carpenter, and 
whose prospects of achieving success in his profession were 
of such uncommon brightness, and depending so particularly 
upon his eye-sight. He afterward said that he thought he 
could not be blamed for almost losing hope under circum- 
stances like those, as no one who had not suffered that 
whelming affliction could have any conception of how impen- 
etrable is the shadow that envelops the soul when the light 
of day is shut out, or how black and sterile the world seems 
to those who can no longer look upon its changes, its beauties, 
and its opportunities. Nevertheless, he added, blindness that 
is only temporary will have upon a person of literary tastes, 
who has already acquired considerable general information 
by extensive reading, a lasting beneficial effect. Up to this 
recess, he had been devouring every volume of law, literature, 
history and biography that fell in his way, and the period of 
blindness, costly and unpleasant as it was, gave Carpenter 
time to digest them, draw conclusions from them, and arrange 
their valuable portions in his mind for future use. 

THE ANGEL MOTHER. 

In March, chills and fever were added to his bodily ills, and 
at one time they reached a very aggravated stage. On a 
certain night, as he lay alone in a fireless room, the rigors 
approached a climax. It seemed, he related, that they would 
certainly shake the life out of him. " Oh, how cold I was," 
he said, "and how I longed for some one to come and cover 
me! At last, after I was almost frozen to death, my mother 
came. She changed my pillow, spread on more coverlets, 
and tucked up the bed. Then I was warm. Her face had 
almost passed from my mind, but when she appeared at my 



68 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

bedside, it came back to me instantly. Her dear, sweet 
image has never left me since. I know she came. I felt 
her hand, saw her face as plainly as I ever saw anything, 
and watched her arrange the bed. God bless her! She 
came back from on high to save my life." Thus, after he 
was able to return briefly to Vermont, Carpenter related the 
story of the vision to his sisters. He was probably delirious, 
but not then nor ever after could any force of argument 
shake the belief that his mother, who died fourteen years 
before, came to visit and soothe him in the hour of loneliness 
and distress. Mrs. Green, his landlady, wrote to the friends 
in Vermont: "The poor boy thought, in his delirium, that 
his mother came from Heaven to assuage his woe; but it 
was only poor, old Mrs. Green who spread on the coverlets 
and smoothed his pillow." 

A FRIENDLY POLYPHEMUS. 

A young man of ample education, named Benedict, from 
one of the southern states, became Carpenter's companion 
soon after his arrival in New York. This young gentleman 
had lost the use of one eye, and was in the infirmary for the 
purpose of having the sightless orb removed and replaced by 
one of glass. Having one good eye, he offered to read the 
newspapers to Carpenter, and to read and answer his letters. 
It is needless to record that this generous proposition was 
gratefully accepted, and equally needless to say that the two 
young men, who were of about the same age, became the 
warmest friends. Not only did this philanthropic Polyphe- 
mus from the south read newspapers and letters to his blind 
companion, but gave him copious draughts from general 
literature. 

Young Benedict either brought to New York, or pur- 
chased while there, a volume of miscellaneous poems, which 
was read and re-read, dissected, discussed and digested with 
the greatest freedom and impartiality. During this period, 
and from the reading of this volume by Benedict, Carpenter 



THE TRUE PHILOSOPHER. 69 

committed to memory all, save the ballads, of Scott's " Lady 
of the Lake " [equal to about one hundred pages of this vol- 
ume], Burns' "Brigs of iVyr" and "The Jolly Beggars," 
Byron's " Corsair " and " The Prisoner of Chillon," besides 
several lesser poems. Such an extraordinary achievement at 
once made the "blind young Milton of the Wilderness," as 
Carpenter was called, a noted character in the neighbor- 
hood, and hardly an evening passed without a crowd gather- 
ing to hear him recite passages from "The Lady of the 
Lake," or from that splendid description of the tribula- 
tions of Robert Bruce, " The Lord of the Isles," or with 
inimitable felicity, that roaring trespass upon broad humor, 
" The Jolly Beggars." On such occasions the center of the 
room, from one end to the other, was cleared, in order to 
give him opportunity to indulge his invariable habit of walk- 
ing back and forth while entertaining his unseen but de- 
lighted audience. These were indeed rare evenings to those 
permitted to be present, for at no subsequent period of his 
life, rich and entrancing as were his recitations of poetry, 
could Carpenter surpass, in eloquence and dramatic effect, 
those peculiarly interesting efforts of his early days, in an 
obscure chamber in New York, before hearers whose faces 
he was never permitted to look upon. 

THE TRUE PHILOSOPHER. 

And thus several weeks and months passed, not without 
some pleasure and considerable profit to the afflicted patient, it 
must be acknowledged. The young southerner, through 
whose unremitting kindness Carpenter was able to learn the 
current news of the day and commit to memory almost a vol- 
ume of poems, returned home, leaving no one to take his place. 
The film or pigment which grew over the patient's eyes 
had in the meantime been removed by Dr. Rogers, enabling 
Carpenter to see well enough to move about the neighboring 
streets and to write short letters. But the returning hope of 



70 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

restored sight was dampened by the fact that the money sent 
by Choate had been exhausted, and a letter advising him of 
that fact had remained unanswered for four weeks. Think- 
ing the letter might have been miscarried, another was sent 
in accordance with Choate's urgent invitation ; but when, at 
the end of another week, no answer was received, Carpenter 
explained to Dr. Rogers and Mrs. Green his exact situa- 
tion, exliibiting Choate's promise of whatever financial aid 
might be necessary to restore his sight. Mrs. Green was 
poor and unable to bestow much charity, but Dr. Rogers 
at once offered to continue his treatment of Carpenter at any 
boarding-place he might be able to secure. Here was a di- 
lemma of no mean proportions. Dr. Rogers declared his 
patient could only undertake a journey to Wisconsin or Ver- 
mont at the certain peril of his eyes, though their condition 
had at this time begun to materially improve. Carpenter 
replied that, let the results be what they might, he saw no 
alternative but to leave New York, as his money was entirely 
gone, his board bill was past due, and two letters to Rufus 
Choate had not been answered in any form whatever. 

The unanswered letters were more puzzling than his sev- 
eral other troubles, and he thus expressed himself to Dr. 
Rogers, knowing that Choate, if alive and well, was not the 
man to be so discourteous as to refuse to notice the corre- 
spondence of even a stranger. The doctor answered that he 
should not listen to the proposition to leave New York; that 
there was doubtless some good reason for the failure of 
Choate to write, and that sooner or later satisfactory tidings 
would be received from him ; that he could, if Carpenter had 
no false pride, secure comfortable quarters and wholesome 
food for him at the Bellevue Hospital, and that he would 
go there and continue the treatment as long as might be 
necessary, trusting to the future for remuneration, or even 
making no charge at all. Carpenter, without any hesitancy 
or apparent squeamishness, said he would go, and it was ar- 



THE TRUE PHILOSOPHER. *J1 

ranged that at the end of that week Dr. Rogers should 
drive him in his carriage over to the hospital. At this point 
it may be stated that the reason Carpenter did not call upon 
his foster-father, Paul Dillingham, for financial succor, which 
he knew would be promptly and gladly forthcoming, was 
that he had already received aid from Choate, and, expecting 
every mail from Boston would bring further and ample relief 
from the same abundant source, neglected to send to Water- 
bury a statement of his pressing necessities until face to face 
with the alternative recorded. 

Dr. Rogers went, as he had promised, over to the Belle- 
vue Hospital, and secured for his patient, in whom he took 
hardly less than a father's interest, good accommodations and 
a promise of special care, " the case being one of no ordinary 
character," he carefully impressed upon the superintendent. 
But on returning he found Carpenter, who had received a 
letter from Choate, in high spirits. The message, dated 
on shipboard, inclosed a draft for all the money Carpen- 
ter would be likely to need for some months, and contained 
an explanation of Choate's long silence. Having become 
prostrate and exhausted by overwork, his physician had per- 
emptorily ordered him to Europe for rest and a change of 
scene, and in the hurry of preparation he had forgotten to 
make the intended provision for Carpenter. 

This narrow escape of Carpenter from being for a few 
days or weeks an inmate of a public hospital, owing to cir- 
cumstances over which he had no control, is chiefly interest- 
ing because his willingness to enter such a place until he 
could hear from his friends, shows that he was a true man 
and genuine philosopher. He interposed no fanciful notions 
or aristocratic objections to what is by many regarded too 
much in the nature of a personal humiliation, but which, as 
a matter of fact, is not more so than the use of the public 
highways or the enjoyment of the benefits and protection of 
government by those who are not tax-payers. 



72 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

A VISIT TO VERMONT. 

Carpenter was compelled to remain in the infirmary during 
a period of sixteen months. Even then he had not so far 
recovered that Dr. Rogers would consent to his removal to 
Vermont except upon condition that he would do no reading 
or writing for at least six months. Nothing worthy of men- 
tion transpired after the narrow escape from BeUevue Hos- 
pital, except that a very warm friendship sprung up be- 
tween the generous physician and his modest but talented 
patient; so, having made the required promise, it only remains 
to record that Carpenter left New York during the summer 
of 1850 for Dillingham's. There, wearing dark glasses and 
a broad shade over his eyes to protect them from sunlight, 
for about six weeks he visited, rode and wandered away the 
soft summer hours. The promise to Dr. Rogers to do 
no reading was diligently kept — more, perhaps, through the 
watchfulness of the members of the Dillingham family than 
the efforts of the patient himself. Cara, who was then at 
home from school on a vacation, gave most of her time to 
him, of whom she had always been very fond; and there be- 
gan that attachment and devotion which, as properly appears 
later on, was finally sealed between them for life and eternity. 

RETURNS TO BELOIT. 

Toward the close of August Carpenter concluded he 
was as nearly healed as he ever would be, and prepared to 
return to Wisconsin. Understanding full well that after so 
long an absence he would not only find his previous business 
relations broken and destroyed, but that it would be neces- 
sary to make arrangements to live for some months without 
earning much from his profession, he began the journey home 
by going to Boston, where he negotiated with Francis B. 
Crovvninshield for $500, securing the " accommodation ac- 
ceptance " by a chattel mortgage on his office furnitui-e and 



RETURNS TO BELOIT. 73 

a portion of his library. On this he received $50 in cash, and 
subsequently drew on Crowninshield for $200, the draft 
being honored; the balance of the accommodation was never 
negotiated. The notes were dated " Boston, September 9, 
1850," and the chattel mortgage was filed with B. W. Small, 
town clerk of Beloit, October 20, 1850. 

During the last days of September, 1850, Carpenter reached 
Beloit, having been absent eighteen months. Although cor- 
dially greeted by the entire population of the village, who re- 
joiced at his return, they were nevertheless pained to observe 
the unfavorable condition of his eyes. And Carpenter him- 
self found he was more helpless than he had supposed. 
Therefore, for some months Mr. King, Jonas M. Bundy and 
others — all were willing — were compelled to read, write, 
and perform other like services for him at home and in his 
office. Mr. King recollects that he never heard Carpenter 
utter a word of complaint ^ or express a regret that fortune 
was less generous with him than with others — never saw him 
despondent or wince under any suffering. On the contrary, 
he seemed even more cheerful and witty, and the sunshine 
of his soul shed more effulgence than had the light of his 
wondrous eyes. He desired to be told the identity of all 
persons met on the street, in order that he might, though blind, 
address them by name and extend a pleasant greeting; and 
at social gatherings the flow of his humor was never more 
full and enjoyable than during this long night of his youth. 

Carpenter's eyes never fully recovered. They were less 
strong than formerly and less clear and beautiful. It was 
always thereafter necessary for him to hold a book or news- 
paper very close to them in order to read; sometimes an ap- 
parent film would cover the iris, and nothmg was clearly 

1 During the most hopeless period of the affliction he caused cheerful 
letters to be written to his sisters and others. In October, 1850, he wrote 
to his sister Esther that the clouds were clearing away ; his eyes were bet- 
ter, his health good, and his weight one hundred and sixty-five pounds. 



74 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

discernible at even a moderate distance. He was thus unable 
to recognize any except the most familiar forms and faces 
unless they were comparatively near to him, which frequently 
gave rise to the unjust charge that he was thoughtless of his 
friends and contemptuous of his formal acquaintances. This 
early misfortune, therefore, cost Carpenter a large number 
of unpleasant experiences and explanations in later life. Be- 
fore starting for New York his Beloit ph3-sician told him that 
he would be marked for life. He found, sometimes to his 
annoyance, and often to his discomfort, that the prediction 
was a true one, for the hds ever after drooped unnaturally 
over the eyes, and his power of vision was uncertain. Thus, 
those who never saw him previous to 1849 had no conception 
of the perfection of his personal attractions nor of the beauty 
of the deep, winning, omnipotent orbs that nature had set 
in his large and shapely head. 

A BEAUTIFUL INCIDENT. 

On returning from the east Carpenter did not resume board 
and lodging with the Atwoods, but furnished rooms and had 
his meals in the house of Samuel B. Cooper, a well-known 
justice of the peace. Soon after becoming an inmate of that 
household a bright and beautiful little daughter was born to 
the lady of the house. He asked the privilege of naming 
the child, which was granted, and it was by him christened 
Cara Dillingham Cooper, in honor of the young lady whom 
he subsequently married. This became a matter of serious 
conversation among a few young women of the village, who 
were in doubt as to the precise construction the incident de- 
manded. It was generally accepted, however, as announcing 
his engagement to Cara Dillingham, and, with the majority, 
added to his popularity. They praised him for what they 
regarded as an open manner of divulging and honoring a se- 
cret which, dwelling so distant, could have been discovered 
in no other manner. 



bundy's recollections. 75 



A PARTNERSHIP. 

Shortly after returning to Beloit Carpenter formed a part- 
nership with Hazen Cheney, and was at about the same time 
nominated for and afterward duly elected district attorney. 
Business began to return with unexpected liberality, and in a 
brief period he was one of the busiest attorneys in the county. 
He took but a small part in politics, attended vigorously to 
his profession, and in less than a year had cleared away his 
smaller debentures and begun to reduce his obligations to 
Choate and Crowninshield, in addition to giving liberally to 
the various charities of the time and place. 

Thus he went on growing in popularity as a citizen and in 
demand as a successful lawyer, until his business extended 
into all the adjoining counties, and to Dubuque, Milwaukee 
and Chicago. Having risen above most of his debts, and 
having, as he thought, formed a pretty firm friendship with 
prosperity. Carpenter went east in 1855 to claim his bride, 
and on November 27th was married to Caroline (Cara), 
youngest daughter of Paul Dillingham. This was an im- 
portant event in the social history of Beloit, as the groom 
was perhaps the most conspicuous figure in the place, and 
the bride the daughter of a distinguished and well-known 
citizen of Vermont. Discovering at an early day that per- 
haps sooner or later he would be compelled to seek a wider 
field of business. Carpenter purchased no permanent resi- 
dence in Beloit, and therefore, until 1858, when he removed 
to Milwaukee, he and his wife had rooms and board in the 
leading hotel of the place, where their first child was born. 

BUNDY'S RECOLLECTIONS. 

Jonas M. Bundy, editor of the New York Post and Mail^ 
has been mentioned as one of Carpenter's companions during 
the vicissitudes of his early life in Beloit. This chapter, 



76 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

therefore, can be closed no more fitly than by extracts from 
a letter describing that period: 

New York, September 10, 1S83. 

Dear Sir: — I think, in fact I am sure, I never was so nujch filled with 
admiration for any man on first sight, in my life, as I was with Carpenter 
when he first dawned on my boyish vision in 1848 in Beloit. Even those 
who knew him twenty or twenty-five years ago can hardly comprehend 
how winningly, magnetically handsome he was before a prolonged disease 
of the eyes dimmed the beauty of what at one time was the most attractive 
feature of a man singularly endowed with every attribute of a splendid 
physique. Tall, erect, with the fine military bearing that he had acquired 
at West Point and had cultivated since, with a freshness, buoyancy and 
rollicking sense of humor running out in all directions, with a laugh the 
most musical and a smile the mo>t fascinating that I had ever known, the 
young lawyer at once captivated all classes in that little New England 
town, which then and afterward was admirably calculated to stimulate the 
best qualities of the intellectual and ambitious. Boy as I was at that time, 
it was not long before I was taken into the confidence and friendship of 
Carpenter, and from that time until tlie day of his death there never was a 
moment when either one of us could not, on the shortest notice, have 
called upon and had either for any service or effort within his power. 

From the first, the large-hearted generosity of the man was evident. He 
had none of that art which enables some lawyers to manage their friend- 
ships so that they pay. From the first, many of his friends were among 
those who were not only poor, but destined to remain so during their nat- 
ural existence, and it was for such people that his life was largely spent. 
The men who were most sure to retain his best efforts and most courage- 
ous advocacy were those who belonged to the class he always designated 
as " the Lord's poor." 

Spending, as I did, a great deal of time at Carpenter's office and in his 
rooms, where we pursued the same course of reading, I had opportunities 
of seeing how firmly he laid the foundations of that lucid and powerful 
style of legal argument which afterward so captivated the justices of the 
United States supreme court and such great lawyers as Edwin M. Stanton 
and Jeremiah S. Black. In drawing up the most ordinary brief, Carpenter 
was never satisfied with the words that he had first written, but kept con- 
tinually working out through the dictionaries or the works of standard 
authors the most certain and exact shades of meaning which he desired to 
express. 

Of course, the great affliction which fell upon him, in the spring of his 
manhood, in the almost total loss of eye-sight, was one of the inscrutable 
dispensations of Providence which will never be forgotten by those who 



BUNDY S RECOLLECTIONS. 77 

knew Carpenter at that trying time. I might say a great deal about that 
period ot his life which probably will never be published. I shall, how- 
ever, only say quite emphatically, that I know nothing in regard to the 
private life of any of my friends who have become famous which showed 
such a combination of pluck, patience and endurance, coupled with trials 
of the most heart-rending character, as were triumphantly endured by Car- 
penter at that time. For many months he was confined to a room in this 
city, not only nearly blind, but with little prospect of ever seeing again, and 
dependent almost entirely upon the aid furnished him from time to time 
by his great friend and insti-uctor, Rufus Choate. I have many times 
talked with Carpenter about that terrible period of blindness and almo-<t 
entire helplessness. He often told me that he regarded that time of trial 
as one in which there was formed in him more character, more of a feeling 
of necessity for trust in God, of the vanity of human ambition, of the ten- 
derness of unselfish human love, of the pricelessness of the affections and 
sentiment, that were only strengthened and made more fervent by afflictions, 
separation and almost utter hopelessness. 

Yours, now and hereafter, 

J. M. BuNDY. 



78 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER VI. 

FAIR, WHITE MILWAUKEE. 

After his appearance for the respondent in the Bashford- 
Barstow quo -warranto case, in 1856, which we shall soon exam- 
ine, Carpenter's most lucrative engagements began to come 
from parties outside of Beloit. These causes were gener- 
ally for trial in the supreme court of Wisconsin, the United 
States district and United States circuit courts, and the cir- 
cuit court for Milwaukee county. Beloit was in the extreme 
southern portion of the state, away from courts of every 
kind, and so situated that she would always continue in that 
condition, which necessitated for Carpenter almost continuous 
absence from home. He therefore resolved upon removing 
to some larger and more central business point. Some at- 
tempt was made to draw him to Chicago, but it was not 
seriously considered. He already had a large practice in 
Milwaukee, and as that point was then, and in all probability 
would forever remain, the commercial metropolis of the 
state, he determined to make that his permanent home. But 
the date of removal for some time after a change of base 
was discussed remained undecided, and perhaps might never 
have come to material result, except for a romantic incident 
which proved in his case to be that 

Tide in the affairs of men 
Which, taken at its flood, leads on to fortune. 

During his first year in Beloit he made a speech on the 
license question. Among his listeners was Newcomb 
Cleveland, of New York. Subsequently Cleveland became 
interested in the contract for constructinjj the Milwaukee & 
La Crosse Railway, and finally a trouble that arose between 
him and the railway corporation became so important that 
he resolved to bring suit for damages in the sum of $150,000. 
On a pleasant morning of the summer of 1858, as Carpen- 



FAIR, WHITE MILWAUKEE. 79 

ter sat in the open window of his office reading a maga- 
zine, Cleveland, a stranger, entered and greeted him by 
name. After a brief conversation the visitor related that he 
had decided to begin litigation against the railway company 
and that he desired to place the sole management of the 
case in Carpenter's hands. When an arrangement to this 
effect had been agreed upon, Carpenter was informed that 
his engagement was the result of the brief argument made 
years before on the license question. " I was then," said 
Cleveland, " so thoroughly impressed with your clear rea- 
soning and solid conclusions that I determined you should 
have exclusive charge of my first important law suit. I 
have kept my resolution." 

As soon after that as he could settle his affairs, Carpenter 
removed to Milwaukee and began that flood of railroad liti- 
gation which he fought in all the courts, high and low, until 
his death, some of which is now as far from settlement as 
ever. His success was such that Cleveland encjaffed him to 
conduct his railway and other actions for a period of ten 
years at $6,000 per year. The attorneys who opposed him 
were the best in the land, yet he combated them all in the 
vast domain of corporate powers, rights and limits, without 
aid or counsel, and with such signal ability as gave him a 
national reputation. Twenty years later, in illustrating how 
the current of a man's life may be changed by the slightest 
incident, he said: " If it had not been for that little speech 
on the license question I probably would have continued in 
Beloit for some years, perhaps during the remainder of my 
life. If I had remained there I never should have been en- 
gaged in the McCardle case and never should have been sena- 
tor. Cleveland brought me into a wider field, and then I studied 
as no man ever before studied to carry his litigation through 
successfully. That license speech was the turning-point of 
my life and made me all that I am." 

Before the Cleveland engagement, however, Josiah A. 
Noonan, one of the great political engines of the Wisconsin 



8o LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

democracy, had seen and admired^ Carpenter. He was also 
a firm friend of E. G. Ryan, and conceived the idea of get- 
ting those two brilliant attorne3's into one firm, with head- 
quarters in Milwaukee. Therefore, after the railway liti- 
gation mentioned had begun, he went to Carpenter and 
suggested that the little city of Beloit could never grow to a 
place of great importance; that Milwaukee was and always 
would be a much broader and richer field for professional 
labor and success; that the various managers, contractors, 
stockholders and bondholders of the railways were becoming 
more and more involved in a multiplicity and complexity of 
transactions, out of which endless litigation would grow, and 
that he should return home and prepare at once for per- 
manent removal to Milwaukee and a partnership with Ryan. 

Carpenter replied that he was satisfied the railway com- 
plications would soon make a large amount of business for 
the lawyers; that he was favorably impressed with Mil- 
waukee and her prospects, that he already had contem- 
plated leaving Beloit, and that if satisfactory terms with 
Ryan could be arranged, he would make the change at once. 
This was in August, and a few weeks later the partnership 
articles were agreed upon, and Carpenter and his family 
removed permanently to Milwaukee. They took up their 
residence in what was then the largest and finest hotel in 
the northwest, the Newhall House,^ and continued to make 
it their home foi some years. In 1869 Carpenter rented, and 
during the following year purchased, the brick house on 
Van Buren street which then became, and has since con- 
tinued to be, the family residence. 

In his new home personal acquaintances and friendships 
were formed rapidly, for Carpenter was already a well- 
known and clearly-defined figure in the public eye, and his 
social and popular career in Milwaukee was but a repetition 
of that at Beloit on an enlarged scale. He eschewed politics 
entirely until i860, when he made a few public speeches for 

I Destroyed hy fire January 10, 1S83, with eighty human lives. 



FAIR, WHITE MILWAUKEE. 8 1 

Douglas, and devoted himself, it seemed to those who 
watched his labors, with more than human vigor to his pro- 
fession. Nevertheless, he found time to meet with social 
and literary gatherings, and when his fascinating conversa- 
tional powers and literary accomplishments became fully 
known, few occasions of that sort passed without attempts 
to secure his presence, though they did not always succeed. 
Chapters might be written of his popularity with all 
classes in the "Cream City " — young and old, high and low, 
German and Irish, Christian and Saracen, republican and 
democrat — but it is not necessary to do it here. The fact 
appears more clearly in connection with various incidents of 
his public life, as related in subsequent pages, than could be 
shown by mere description. The story may be condensed, 
however, into a single sentence: Nothing like it was ever 
known in Wisconsin — perhaps in the Union. His many 
public references, therefore, to "fair, white Milwaukee" 
were always tender. He loved the place and its people, and 
long before the shadow of death fell across his pathway, 
expressed the wish that there, in the quiet, shaded aisles of 
Forest Home, by the side of his beloved children, his ashes 
might at last be laid to their final rest, lulled by Lake 
Michigan's eternal murmurs. 



82 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER VII. 

BEGINNING THE LAW. 

The covers of no ordinary volume would contain the de- 
tails of the career of Carpenter as a lavv3'er, for he was 
pre-eminently that, though his labors as a senator, reconstruc- 
tionist and supporter of the Union during the Rebellion, 
brought nearly all the popular fame his name enjoyed. He 
left his father's roof for the purpose of following the foot- 
steps of Erskine and John Marshall; returned from West 
Point, where he had attained an enviable position in his class, 
in order that the expanding genius of an enthusiastic lawyer 
might not be withered and destroyed by the forced, uncon- 
genial marches of the regular army; studied with rare dili- 
gence at Dillingham's, having the fame of Daniel Webster, 
Jeremiah Mason and Rufus Choate steadily in view; jour- 
neyed to Boston to sit beneath the savory teachings of 
Choate and discover the secrets of his abundant success; 
delved into the uttermost recesses of human lore that no 
competitor might distance him in the use of apt and correct 
knowledge; turned his back on the classic and historic at- 
tractions of Massachusetts, because the expanding west 
would aflbrd a wider and more fruitful field for the growth 
of his ability and ambition; and explored, as long as he lived, 
every new realm of legal literature, at home and abroad, 
that no correct principle or wholesome doctrine governing 
the eternal search for equity and the just settlement of the 
controversies of mortals might escape him. Thus he was a 
lawyer before he was a public servant or a public character, 
and it is therefore proper to first devote some attention to his 
professional career. 

Carpenter always defended his professional character, 
while other attacks were passed by without notice. "When 
the cataclysm of political slander poured its poisonous streams 



BEGINNING THE LAW. 83 

upon him, he was fully consoled with the cheerful remark: 
" Well, I have never yet been accused of being a bad law- 
yer." When his fellows in the senate evolved sophistical 
theories or high-sounding clap-trap, or advocated an uncon- 
stitutional measure, he would say that being " only a lawyer " 
he must oppose them, and close by begging to be " spared 
from degenerating into a mere statesman." One of the 
things that more than any other exasperated Charles Sum- 
ner was Carpenter's frequent taunt: " My friend from Mas- 
sachusetts, once a sound and upright lawyer, has been 
degraded by public life to the blase purlieus of a common '^ 
statesman, as may be observed by the unsound views he is 
advocating." He regarded a learned and conscientious 
lawyer as the only true and safe law-making statesman. It 
was well known that James G. Blaine was not and never 
had been a lawyer. Therefore, when he essayed to speak on 
a legal question, the mode of ridicule that gave Carpenter 
the most abundant relish was that of ironically praising the 
senator from Maine as "beyond all comparison a distin- 
guished and learned attorney." As Burns was displeased 
with any title save that of poet or Highland bard, so Car- 
penter desired no title of distinguishment beyond that of 
law-giver. 

It was originally the conception of Paul Dillingham that 
Carpenter should become a lawyer; but it was the splendor 
of Daniel Webster's fame which gave birth to that infatua- 
tion for the profession which retained possession of him to 
the last day of his life. Webster was, in his time, the only 
man who successfully sat in the senate of the United States 
and at the same time carried on a large practice before the 
United States supreme and other courts. Carpenter's ambi- 
tion was to equal Webster in that respect, and he accom- 
plished it. After 1870 he was equally busy and successful 
in the senate chamber and the chamber of the supreme 
court, carrying a multiplicity of burdens in both. 

Let us begin at the beginning and trace Carpenter's pro- 



$4 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

fessional growth. At Dillingham's he was trusted with 
drafting legal documents and trying petty cases before jus- 
tices of the peace. His papers were ever drawn with perfect 
neatness and literary taste, and Dillingham was in the habit 
of exhibiting them with pride as models of their kind. 

WHIPS HIS GRANDFATHER. 

The first suit before a justice, or any other judicial tribu- 
nal, that he undertook to conduct without the aid or presence 
of friends, was in 1841, when between sixteen and seventeen 
years of age. A jeweler had lost a quantity of goods, and 
»br ought suit before a justice of the peace in Moretown to 
recover possession. Cephas Carpenter, the boy's grand- 
father, had been engaged by the defense, and was probably 
instrumental in having the prosecution engage Merritt to 
oppose him, for he was exceedingly proud of his brilliant 
young grandson, and lost no opportunity of pushing him for- 
ward. The case came to trial in the old school-house at 
Moretown. The building was crowded with neighbors and 
friends, all eager to witness so novel a spectacle as a contest 
between a fearless and hard-striking old advocate of seventy 
and his stripling grandson of sixteen. Merritt's brother and 
sisters, with dozens of his former schoolmates and childhood 
acquaintances, gathered under the windows of the scarred 
temple of learning and justice, as the only available stations 
whence they could observe the proceedings on the inside; 
and these openings were closely occupied during the entire 
day and until the verdict was rendered. Cephas Carpenter 
resorted to all the feints and maneuvres that he thought 
would be likely to bring the metal and ingenuity of his 
grandson to view, and thus made the trial, on his part, one of 
more than ordinary interest and display of ability. The con- 
flict was protracted as long as possible by the grandfather, in 
order to test his youthful adversary at every point, but the 
verdict was against him. All tongues were busy in More- 
town that evening, for a sixteen-year-old boy had compassed 



CARPENTER AGAINST EDMUNDS. 85 

the defeat of the oldest and most noted justice-court advocate 
in Washington county. For his fee, young Carpenter re- 
ceived a gold ring, which he soon after gave to his sister 
Anna, by whom it is still worn and cherished. 

During the year following his first suit, or when he was 
seventeen, Merritt compiled the evidence, applied the law, 
and prepared the papers asking a pension for his grand- 
mother, as the widow of a soldier of the Revolution. He 
succeeded in securing the annuity. This was a conception 
of his own, after learning that the grandfather on his 
mother's side fought against the British, and was carried to 
fruition without aid, greatly to his youthful glory in that sec- 
tion. 

At various times afterward, Cephas Carpenter tried petty 

suits against his grandson, always managing the cases in such 

a manner as to best develop the boy's skill at nisi-priiis. There 

are perhaps no instances on record, where the successful 

practice of an attorney dates back to his seventeenth year, or 

where a fledgling of seventeen triumphantly prosecuted his 

first pension claim against the federal government. It should 

be added, however, that the first of his early business was 

obtained for him by his grandfather, who always predicted 

that Merritt would make a great lawyer. This course was 

like that of the shrewd old cat, who, desirous that her kittens 

should turn out good mousers, gave them an early taste of 

blood. 

CARPENTER AGAINST EDMUNDS. 

Young Carpenter's first professional engagement, after 
returning from West Point, was made early in 1846, when 
he was between twenty-one and twenty-two years of age. 
The opposing counsel was no less than Geo. F. Edmunds, 
then living at Richmond, something like twenty miles down 
the Winooski river. The two fledglings, each afraid of the 
other, met in a little, gray wooden school-house in the town 
of Bolton, in a gap of the Green mountains, and half-way 
from Waterbury to Richmond. The suit, small as it really 
was, attracted no little attention from the peasants of the 



85 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

neighborhood, and the artless but attentive audience was 
present, until far into the night, to listen to the forensic 
efforts, the sharp retorts, and the crude legerdemain of the 
young Blackstones. In his memorial address to the senate 
in 1 88 1, Mr. Edmunds thus referred to that spirited contest 
amidst the lofty grandeur and quiet solitude of the Green 
mountains: 

Carpenter's birth-place and the home of his youthful days was only a 
dozen miles from the town of my own nativity, the hills of which I can 
still see from my present home, and we first met, when we were both very 
young and studying law, at a small school-house situated in the very heart 
of the mountains, to contend through the whole day and night for the 
rights of our respective clients in a very small affair, before a farmer justice 
of the peace and a jury of six. 

Although the instances cited cover his first management 
of formal trials, they do not include young Carpenter's first 
appearance in court under fee and in response to a regular 
engagement. A matter of some moment was pending, when 
he was sixteen, before a mountain justice of the peace and a 
rural jury, and he was engaged as " of counsel." He re- 
ceived the interesting fee of tifty cents, the first lucre earned 
in the legal profession that ever enriched his palms. His 
duties were thus set forth when the retainer was passed: 
" When the other side makes a point, just look as sour and 
glum as you can ; but when zve gain a score, you just cheer 
and stamp like the devil." The instructions were obeyed 
strictly, at least fifty cents in shoe-leather being stamped out. 
The eflectiveness of this peculiar aflair will be fully appreci- 
ated by those professional men who can remember that in 
early years the applause and approbation of the crowd often 
had more influence in bringing a verdict from the jury than 
all the evidence of witnesses and the oratory of attorneys. 

A. V. H. Carpenter, a relative of the subject of this mem- 
oir, and an early student and practitioner of the law in Ver- 
mont, relates: 

Matt. H. Carpenter and myself were born in adjoining towns. I had 
completed my law studies while he was yet a student. We were both at 
our original homes on a visit, and chanced to meet at an intermediate 



FIRST CAUSE IN WISCONSIN. 87 

point where an important examination upon a complaint setting forth 
forgery was in progress before a magistrate. Matt., in a manner that I do 
not now recollect, was asked to assist the prosecuting attorney, and I was 
retained by the respondent, as his attorney was from western New York 
and not thoroughly familiar with the court usages of Vermont. Matt, and 
I were well acquainted with each other, and I recollect that at the conclu- 
sion of the examination he said he had never before made an argument 
before a court. 

Whether this was before or after the cases already men- 
tioned is of no consequence. The fact intended to be con- 
veyed in the letter is that young Carpenter had never 
appeared before a magistrate simply to make a special ar- 
gument. 

FIRST CAUSE IN WISCONSIN. 

Although he tried numerous small matters very success- 
fully, and was well known in Washington county as a bright 
young man, Carpenter did not trust himself, while in Vermont, 
to take a case higher than the court of a justice of the peace, 
and while with Rufus Choate entered upon no practice except 
that of drafting legal papers and attending to miscellaneous 
office business, as heretofore mentioned. He removed to 
Beloit to begin the regular practice of his profession. His 
first appearance in a Wisconsin court was at the June term 
of the United States district court at Janesville. He was 
also present in Janesville at the organization of the circuit 
court system of the new state, and from his knowledge of 
practice in older states, was able to make many valuable sug- 
gestions to the newly-chosen judge, Edward V. Whiton, 
afterwards chief justice of the Wisconsin supreme court. 

His first case after settling in Beloit was heard before a 
justice of the peace at a point in Rock county, ten or a dozen 
miles above Beloit. A farmer named Ebenezer N. Baldwin 
came down in search of a lawyer, and, observing Carpenter's 
sign, entered the office and made known his errand. Of 
course he could " <jo at once," and in five minutes the vouno^ 
attorney was seated beside the farmer on the hewed poles 
which constituted the box of a lumber wagon, and thus jolted 



88 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

over the rough, unworked roads of a new country. As the 
twain ascended the valley of the river the farmer recited all 
the facts and circumstances of his case, and when they ar- 
rived at the oflice of the justice Carpenter was ready for trial. 
Who opposed him, or what the cause of litigation was, is 
wrapt in obscurity. Late at night the cause was ended and 
the farmer brought Carpenter back to Beloit. On inquiring 
of him what fee and charges were to be paid. Carpenter 
replied: " Oh, I guess about a dollar." The smallness of the 
fee might lead to the supposition that he was defeated, but the 
accompanying letter proves the contrary: 

Aftox, Wisconsin, August, 1S83. 
Dear Sir : — In July, 184S, I sued Cyrus Woodbridge before a justice of 
the peace. Matt, conducted tlie suit — the tir.st he had in Wisconsin. He 
won the case, and when I asked him what his charges were, he answered : 
" One dollar." I asked if that was enough, and he said: "Oh, I guess so." 
You did not ask concerning anything but that eaily suit, but I can not re- 
frain from adding that Matt, was one of the be^t lawyers and best citizens 
that ever lived. He was an open-hearted, generous man. He was a great 
friend to the poor, and would rather give his last dollar tiian see them 
suffer. They all loved him, and I loved him, too. 

Respectfully, 

Ebenezer N. Baldwin. 

The first case Carpenter had in the circuit court was 
brought on a writ of certiorari in the matter of T. C. Demary, 
plaintiff in error, vs. J. P. Oilman, defendant in error, and 
judgment in his favor, reversing the decree of the justice, 
was entered early in 1849. He was then twenty-four years 
of age. 

The first case taken by him to the supreme court of Wis- 
consin was that of Kirby rs. Martin. The suit was origi- 
nally brought for the plaintiff to recover the value of ahorse 
in the sum of $40. The defendant carried the case, having 
been defeated before a justice of the peace, to the circuit 
court of Rock county, and there succeeded in securing a 
judgment of reversal. Carpenter appealed, for his client, to 
the supreme court, filing the papers May i, 1852. The case 



AN AUGUST BODY. 89 

was argued on June 23d and decided June 29th of that year, 
in his favor. This gave him something of a standing for 
judicial learning, as it was generally held by his legal breth- 
ren in Rock county that he had taken a wrong position in 
the case and would be defeated. 

AN AUGUST BODY. 

The first case Carpenter carried to the supreme court of 
the United States was that of Bronson and Soutter, trustees, 
vs. The La Crosse & Milwaukee Railway Company e^ «/., 
in which, February 20, 1863, he argued a motion to dismiss 
the cross-appeal of other parties. On February 2, 1864, he 
appeared before the same court, in the same matter, for 
complainants, to make an argument on the merits of the case. 
In one sense he was victorious, and in another he was not. 
The court held that the United States district court, fi'om 
which the appeal was taken, exceeded its jurisdiction, but 
decided, " for the present," to withhold the remedy. This 
case was, in many respects, the most extraordinary that had 
been taken to the United States supreme court. Its inter- 
minable complications, the charges of collusion and fraud, 
and the voluminous papers brought with it, gave the court a 
severe test, and completely confused all the laymen before 
whose attention it came. Justice Nelson, in delivering the 
opinion of the court, admitted this by characterizing it as a 
" most complicated, difficult and severely contested cause." 
John William Wallace, the famous reporter of the court, was 
compelled to admit, in a note on page 411, of i Wallace's 
Reports, that he was unable to make a clear and full report 
of a case in which the record consisted of over one thousand 
octavo pages of closely printed matter, and the discussion of 
which by counsel occupied " no small fraction of a five months' 
term." To prepare and fight through this cause, which trav- 
eled in so many new fields and untrodden paths, must have 
required an almost inconceivable amount of labor and re- 
search. In its conduct Carpenter won from the bench and 
from his eminent professional brethren great praise for learn- 



pO LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

ing and ability. The subjoined tender letter to Mrs. Car- 
penter, written late on Saturday evening, February 6, 1864, 
after the first case had been given to the court, discloses the 
labors and excitement of that period: 

My Dear Wife: — I have just returned from the theater, where Vesta- 
yalH has again been acting the man. I still think she is splendid. 

I have passed an exciting week, and am dreadfully tired at its close. I 
have succeeded, you will be glad to know, even better than I anticipated. 
****** Mv argument in the. supreme court has 
made considerable remark and elicited high [raise from high sources. The 
congratulations and compliments that have been showered upon me for the 
last two days are quite ernbarrassing: — even so, vain as I am, and panting, 
as I do always, for the approbation that is accorded to a good speech. 

I think I may say, without at all over-stating the thing, that I made a 
very favorable impression upon nine most intelligent and experienced gen- 
tlemen, who are better qualified than any other nine men in America to 
judge a speech correctly. You may be sure I am proud of it, and repeat 
it to you because I know you will be proud of it, too, though I hope not 
60 vain about it as I am. 

********* 

A volume of respectable proportions might be composed 
on this one case and those of a similar kind that followed 
and grew out of it, and involved the same parties. It began, 
as previously related, by Newcomb Cleveland's romantic re- 
tainer of 1858, and is still pending. Carpenter's briefs, 
arguments and papers in that behalf, with the answers to 
them, comprise hundreds, perhaps thousands, of volumes, and 
in the office of John W. Cary, solicitor-general of the Chi- 
cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, form a large and val- 
uable library. It was a torrent of litigation that brought 
Carpenter fame, made good lawyers of his numerous oppo- 
nents, jeopardized millions and millions of dollars, threat- 
ened the existence of heavy railway corporations, occupied 
the deepest attention of courts for a quarter of a century, and 
developed and settled the great principles of railway law. 
Its parallel, so far as the matter itself or Carpenter's part in 
it is concerned, is hardly found in the histor}'^ of American 
jurisprudence. 



EXCITEMENT AT BELOIT. 9 1 

CHAPTER VIII. 

EXCITEMENT AT BELOIT. 

• From the digression of the preceding chapter, let us re- 
turn to Beloit, where Carpenter first achieved notoriety as 
an attorney by engaging in some curious litigation involving 
not only the title to lands in the village, but the good will 
and friendship of his fellow-townsmen. An act ot congress 
of May 30, 1830, subsequently amended^ was framed for the 
purpose of preventing that speculation in village lots by which 
sharpers had robbed many eastern capitalists. It prohibited 
the pre-emption of public lands for any other than farming 
purposes. The New England Emigrating Company, whose 
members settled Beloit, planned to outwit the government. 
They agreed that several persons whom- they could trust 
should claim all the lands embraced in the plat of the village, 
with the understanding that these parties should, after re- 
ceiving patents from the government, reconvey in lots to the 
various proper owners. This was carried out strictly. In 
November, 1838, R. P. Crane filed his pre-emption on a cer- 
tain quarter-section, and then, before receiving a patent from 
the government, deeded the lots to various parties. In the 
land undergoing this jugglery of titles was a piece on the 
Rock river — which was then considered navigable — set 
apart for a "public landing;" but no conveyance having 
been made to the village, its title remained in R. P. Crane. 
When it came time to bridge the river, the authorities pro- 
posed to exchange with one Brown, for land necessary for 
one of the approaches to the structure, a portion of the 
"public landing." Brown agreed to the proposition, and 
after the trade had been consummated by an exchange of 
deeds, Carpenter discovered that Crane and not Beloit was 
the real owner of the " public landing," and that he, for the . 
sum of $50, had some time previously quitclaimed to one 



92 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Gardner. Gardner brought a suit of ejectment against Tis- 
dale and Tondro, occupants of that portion of the " public 
landing" wliich Beloit had pretended to convey to Brown, 
and Brown's tenants. Carpenter, as attorney for Gardner, 
carried this case to the supreme court and won it. 

While engaged in its preparation, he conceived the theory 
that Crane and those engaged with him for the purpose 
mentioned, having conveyed the land in Beloit to numerous 
persons before they had received patents from the govern- 
ment, and consequently before they themselves were the de 
jure owners thereof, had made no legal transfer, and were 
therefore the technical, if not the rightful, owners of all the 
lands pre-empted by them for themselves and their neigh- 
bors. To test this theory he had Crane convey his entire 
portion of the village site to S. B. Cooper, in 1855 ; Cooper 
conveyed to J. L. Demmon (Paul Dillingham's law partner), 
and Demmon conveyed to Dillingham. An issue was made 
up, and Carpenter, for Dillingham, tried the title to several 
lots in the Rock county circuit court, where he was defeated. 
He then transferred the cause to the supreme court on a 
writ of error. Vast interests were involved and a desperate 
fight must be made. Accordingly, an extraordinary array of 
legal talent was engaged on both sides. Carpenter and Ed- 
ward G. Ryan, with Rufus Choate, of Boston, as counsel, 
were Dillingham's attorneys, while J. R. Doolittle, of Wis- 
consin, Daniel Cady, of New York, and Abraham Lincoln, 
of Illinois, prepared the defense. The practice of conveying 
title before a patent had been received was a comparatively 
common one in early days, and the eyes of the entire north- 
west, desirous of knowing what property had been be- 
clouded, were intently watching the case and the array of 
giants gathered around it. The supreme court affirmed the 
decision of the lower court, and Carpenter's clients appealed 
to the United States supreme court. There a similar suit 
from Louisiana was already on the docket, which, being 
decided adversely, induced him to withdraw the action. 



EXCITEMENT AT BELOIT. 93 

Beloit, at the date of the commencement of this action, was 
a village of considerable wealth and pretensions. The people, 
therefore, when Carpenter brought the title to their real 
estate into question, wrought themselves into a certain state 
of excitement. Every community contains rash, headstrong 
characters, and of this class Beloit had a small share. Their 
counsels were various. Some thought Carpenter should be 
pursued with sticks and staves, others were for personal 
chastisement, and others still for inviting him to leave the vil- 
lage. While the ugly were at their ugliest, a public meeting 
to consider the matter was held, one warm evening, in the 
open space in front of the church known as the " stone-pile." 
A large crowd was present, which was addressed by Carpen- 
ter from the steps of the edifice. He explained the object 
and tenor of the entire matter. During the progress of the 
meeting he asked the hair-brained members of the crowd 
what they proposed or imagined they could do by a public 
demonstration to settle a cause pending in regular form be- 
fore an impartial judicial tribunal. One old character 
shouted: "We can hang you, can't we?" Instantly Car- 
penter retorted: " Yes, indeed, you can hang me, but that 
will only settle me, the attorney in the case. Lynchings do 
not destroy or transfer titles, nor terminate vested rights. If 
you should take my life, every right and title belonging to 
me would descend to my heirs. So my destruction would 
make you shedders of blood, not the givers of equity." The 
chief desire, he then went on to explain, was to test the prac- 
tice of conveying lands before final title had been vested in 
the party making the conveyance, and to settle the title to 
the lands in Beloit, so that subsequent deeds should be valid. 
Residents, he said, need feel no alarm. They would, in case 
his suit should be won, be treated fairly. He should deed 
to them for such a nominal sum as would cover the expense, 
and pay for the re-survey he had caused to be made. He 
did not care to make anything out of his friends and neigh- 
bors, but, in case of success, he might squeeze the specula- 



94 



LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



tors, who, living in other cities, held unimproved lands in 
Beloit for the purpose of profiting by the industry and thrift 
of its residents. Few men would have had the courage to 
adopt such a course. It was the first demonstration of inde- 
pendence and that peculiar fearlessness of personal conse- 
quences that characterized Carpenter's entire life. More 
than three-fourths of the people were satisfied with his ex- 
planation, and many of them, even though the suit had been 
decided in their favor in the lower courts, went to him and 
paid nominal sums for quitclaim deeds, feeling that they had 
received the value of their money in having the real or im- 
aginary cloud forever removed from the title to their landed 
possessions. 

This litigation, which extended over a considerable period, 
brought Carpenter into wide notoriety. The case, as to the 
value of the interests involved, was important, and to be as- 
sociated with the best line of legal talent from Boston to the 
Father of Waters was also a valuable professional honor. 

AN INCREASING PRACTICE. 

Carpenter now began to enjoy a very liberal practice. Al- 
though the j'^oungest lawyer in that section, man}-^ important 
causes found their way into his hands. In matters where 
large property interests were involved, he took charge of 
them upon a contingent fee; that is, agreed to carry them 
through to final judgment with the understanding that, if 
successful, he should receive a certain, usually a fair, per- 
centage of the amount in action. This plan had its advan- 
tages for both client and attorney. It called to the latter a 
certain amount of lucrative business, and led him to be care- 
ful not to take particularly bad cases. At the same time the 
former was comfortable in the belief that his interests would 
be more vigorously contended for than if the contract were 
such that the lawyer's fee would be as great in defeat as in 
victory. 

His first large fee under this plan grew out of litigation 



THE MORMONS. • 95 

involving the Beloit water-power. He was victorious, and 
received for his services a tract of land then worth $1,200, 
but which subsequently sold for a very large sum. Fol- 
lowing that were a large number of suits to determine ma- 
terial interests of great value, but they came mostly from 
points remote from Beloit. An exception, however, was his 
action against the city and town of Beloit for $100,000 in 
bonds, voted to aid the construction of a railroad through 
the place from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river. The 
city resorted to various methods to escape payment, and 
Carpenter was at last engaged by the holders to bring the 
matter before the courts, which he agreed to do for a cer- 
tain liberal percentage of the par value of the bonds on 
which he might recover. The suit was successful and his 
reward desirable. 

Another early case that brought to Carpenter the confi- 
dence and patronage of the rural population was his defense 
of a farmer in a suit brought by a Beloit physician for serv- 
ices and medicine. The farmer had refused to pay the bill, 
alleging that the medicine, given under the doctor's own in- 
structions, proved seriously injurious rather than beneficial 
to his daughter, who was the person under treatment, and 
suit was brought to compel its payment. Carpenter saved 
the farmer harmless from the action, and then began pro- 
ceedings against the doctor for malpractice — the first of 
the kind in that portion of the state. The physician was 
driven out of Beloit, and the farmers regarded that lawyer 
who could help them escape paying the doctors not only, 
but drive those doctors out of the community, as a very 
good one. 

THE MORMONS. 

In the town of Newark, next to the line between Illinois 
and Wisconsin, and not far distant from Beloit, the Mor- 
mons formed a settlement at an early day, and when Car- 
penter began to be heard of as an attorney, had grown to 



g^ LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

such proportions as to be able to hold public meetings after 
the manner of Methodists, Catholics and other sects, in the 
interest of their "religious" views. A class of lively in- 
dividuals known in almost every community as " the boys," 
fell into the rude habit of attending the Mormon meetings 
for the sole purpose of creating disturbances and enjoying 
seasons of boisterous and unruly sport. Several times the 
Mormons invoked the aid of the law in attempting to sup- 
press the roisterers, but without success. At last they engaged 
Carpenter. He set about preparing the case, and at once 
discovered that his predecessors in that line had failed from 
inability to establish in a legal sense that it was a " religious " 
meeting the turbulent youngsters had disturbed. 

Naturally the community — Baptists, Methodists and all — 
had no sympathy for the Mormons, and it was difficult 
to obtain impartial testimony or an impartial jury. So-called 
" expert " religionists were called, all of whom declared that 
Mormonism was contrary to " true religion," and therefore 
Mormons could not hold " religious meetings." However, 
by ingenious and persistent cross-examination. Carpenter 
secured admissions from all the church members that those 
who addressed the Mormon meetings "spoke eloquently, 
earnestly and piously." On this admission, and on the last 
word of it, he predicated the case, and by skilful argument 
showing that neither witnesses nor magistrates had any legal 
right to say that any given religion was not the " true 
religion," simply because it did not accord with their own, 
so long as it was the regularly practiced and avowed belief 
of those who professed it, he won a verdict. From that 
time on the Mormon meetings, which were good though 
the belief was bad, were not unlawfully disturbed, and Car- 
penter enjoyed the entire patronage of the sect until its 
removal. 



THE BASHFORD-BARSTOW BROIL. 97 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE BASHFORD-BARSTOW BROIL. 

Public excitement was probably never carried to a more 
alarmincT tension in Wisconsin than when it was announced 
that Wm. A Barstow had been made governor by a fraud- 
ulent count and manipulation of the votes cast for himself 
and Coles Bashford at the election held November 6, 1855. 
On January 7, 1856, Barstow was inaugurated and sworn in 
with more pomp and parade than belonged to the custom of 
the time, and on the same day Bashford, without any ado or 
demonstration, went before Chief Justice Edward V. Whiton 
and also took the oath of office as governor. 

Thus, in a remote sense, the state had two chief executive 
officers, and it became a matter of grave public concern as 
to how, without internecine strife and bloodshed, the contro- 
versy could be settled and the rightful party dulv installed. 
The savage arbitrament of ph3'sical force was largely 
believed to be the only means that could be employed, as 
legal history afforded no precedent for civil proceedings in a 
precisely similar case. But the attorney-general, Wm. R. 
Smith, on the relation of Bashford, filed an information in 
the nature of a quo warranto with the supreme court of the 
state, for the purpose of judicially inquiring in what manner 
Barstow held and exercised the office of governor " without 
any legal warrant, right, title, election or appointment." 

This information set forth that by an iniquitous system of 
supplemental returns Barstow had been given a majority of 
one hundred and fift3^-seven votes, and then fraudulently 
declared elected by the board of canvassers (Alex. T. Gray 
as secretary of state, Ed. H. Janssen as state treasurer, and 
Geo. B. Smith as attorney-general), when in fact he had 
been defeated at the polls. The board of canvassers <'all 
democrats like Barstow), as the returns came in, at once dis- 
7 



98 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

covered that Barstow had been defeated. Additional, called 
** supplemental," returns were then prepared for several 
counties, increasing the vote for Barstow. These fraudulent 
returns were received and counted by the canvassers. 
Although this iniquity was carried forward with great 
secrecy, it was discovered by Bashford's friends. He then 
engaged as counsel Timothy O. Howe, of Green Bay, 
Edward G. Ryan, of Milwaukee, James H. Knowlton, of 
Shullsburg, and Alex. W. Randall, of Waukesha, who pre- 
pared the information, setting forth in detail the real and 
fraudulent votes of the state. 

Some difficulty was experienced in getting the writ before 
the supreme court, as Attornev-General W. R. Smith, hav- 
ing been chosen on the ticket with Barstow, was his friend, 
and therefore refused to file the original information left with 
him for that purpose by Bashford's attorneys. However, 
on appearing before the court, a motion for substitution was 
made and granted and the trial proceeded. 

It had been well-noised abroad at that day, as previously 
described, that Carpenter was an ingenious and successful 
lawyer of superior learning. He was therefore engaged, 
with Harlow S. Orton (now a justice of the Wisconsin su- 
preme court) and Jonathan E. Arnold, of Milwaukee, to 
conduct Barstow's defense. These three, men of great but 
difTering ability, appeared and pleaded to the jurisdiction of 
the court. Carpenter's effort was in writing, prepared with 
literary taste and perfection, and stands as one of the most 
ingenious, polished and plausible arguments unsupported by 
authorities and decisions ever made in Wisconsin. As a rich 
and entertaining piece of legal literature, his opening sentences 
in that famous case are often quoted: 

We come here to argue a question of vital importance; we come to re- 
sist an attempt to maim the proportions and mar the liarmonj of our state 
government by striking down one of its independent departments; we come 
to resist the endeavor now made to subject the executive to the control of 
this court. * * * The chief executive magistrate has sent us into your 
presence to make it known to you that the attorney -general has filed in 



THE BASHFORD-BARSTOW BROIL. 



99 



your court an information in tlie nature of a quo warranto, calling him to 
show cause why he exercises the office of governor of Wisconsin. His 
excellency entertains no doubt that your honors, once informed of what has 
been done, will instantly dismiss these proceedings; and while he knows 
that any such proceeding in this court is unwarranted, that the court can 
not constitutionally, and therefore will not, pass any judgment questioning 
the authority of an officer of the state of co-ordinate and equal commission 
with this court, yet he has been pleased to send us as his representatives to 
answer the writ of this court, as a king of England, in merry mood, might 
answer his own writ and enter his own court, to enjoy the look of surprise 
with which a Denman or a Brougham would learn by his presence, that, 
like careless necromancers, they had conjured up a spirit that would not 
down at their bidding. " Go," says the governor, " and acquaint my cous- 
ins, the judges, what an excellent joke our subordinate officers have played 
upon us." And the governor was, like the king in the song, in right gra- 
cious mood. But kings, princes and governors, clothed with the terrors 
and commanding the thunders of the state, are often calm and confident 
when their ministers, counselors and friends are most anxious and dis- 
tressed. The members of our profession are all grave and honest men. 
We make no feints; we play no jokes. We know, too, that the jocularity 
which your honors would return in kind to your cousin, the governor, 
would never be pardoned in us, your subordinate officers. We come, there- 
fore, observing the etiquette of this court. We enter an appearance as 
counsel and bring this matter to your honors' notice. We file, according 
to the practice of the court, a motion. 

This proceeding has no precedent in any kingdom, state or nation. Never 
before has a judicial tribunal been invoked by a claimant of the chief 
magistracy to disrobe an occupant of the chair of the state and place him 
in his stead. Contests between such claimants constitute a great portion of 
the history of every nation, but never before has such a contest been fought 
in a court of justice. England furnishes us the model of government, and 
its maxims, customs and jurisprudence we have adopted almost en masse. 
We daily consult her books of reports to learn what judgment is proper for 
this court to pronounce, but now we consult them in vain ! The soil of Eng- 
land has been moistened often with the best blood of her sons in deadly 
strife to set up or pull down this or that executive head. But no applica- 
tion was ever made by usurpers or pretenders to the lord chief justice to 
restrain the princes of the white rose or the red. To God and his good 
sword the rightful magistrate has looked for his support in power, or to 
bring him to his own when withheld from it. No injunction ever issued 
from the high court of chancery commanding 

" Grim-visaged War to smooth his wrinkled front." 

Shadows affrighted the soul of Richard in Bosworth field ; and ghosts 
troubling his sleep denounced against him every curse, threatened him with 
every harm; but never a ghost croaked quo -warranto! 



lOO LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

The court decided that it had jurisdiction, and ordered the 
relator, Bashford, to bring in proof of the allegations of fraud 
set out in the information. Thereupon Barstow's counsel, 
on March 8th, formally withdrew from the case. In doing 
so, Carpenter addressed the court to the effect that " Gov. 
Barstow is not, by simply not pleading, to be regarded as a 
convicted man. The court must judicially regard him as the 
legal governor until he shall have been proven to the con- 
trary." Saying this, he added, " We leave this case with- 
out regrets for the past, without fears for the future," and 
withdrew. 

Before departing, he handed up to the court a communi- 
cation from Barstow, which was, as the official proceedings 
declare, " couched in such indecent language that the judges 
would not receive it." Subsequently, Carpenter published 
that he had no knowledge that his client's paper contained 
anything of an improper or discourteous nature. This is 
easily believed, as he was always consistent in observing due 
respect to the courts. 

The court held, as Carpenter requested, that Bashford 
must bring proof, at the same time entering against Barstow 
an " interlocutory judgment." The proof showed that town 
25, range 10, in Waupaca county, the town of Gilbert's 
Mills, Dunn county, and the town of Spring Creek, in Polk 
county, from which large supplemental returns had been 
brought in Barstow's favor, were then, and always had been, 
totally uninhabited! The persons sent to look up evidence 
found nothing more than a trail through one of the towns, 
and in another that only two entries of land by speculators 
had ever been made! This outrage upon the ballot-box, this 
corruption of the very foundation of republican institutions, 
was so wicked and stupendous that the court at once turned 
the interlocutory judgment into a final affirmation that Bar- 
stow was an intruder and usurper, and Bashford the rightful 
governor. 

Although Carpenter's cause was an unholy one (which 



THE BASHFORD-BARSTOW BROIL. 1 01 

was publicly admitted by his withdrawal while it was pend- 
ing), his polished and ingenious argument in its behalf wid- 
ened his reputation and contributed more to his public 
advancement than anything that had previously transpired. 
He did not, however, realize one cent for his services.' 

1 While speaking in the senate, January 6, 1S74, ^^ favor of repealing 
■what was popularly called the " salary -grab " act, Carpenter said, referring 
to this suit: 

" I have practiced law twenty-five years. I charge my clients what I 
think they ought to pay. If they object to the amount, I receive what they 
are willing to pay. To this there has been only one exception. In one 
case I thought my client acted badly, and sued him for compensation, de- 
manding $1,000. He pleaded that my services had been of no value. I 
discontinued the suft, paid my own costs, and sued him again for $2,000 
and interest. He interposed the same defense. I noticed the case for trial, 
called his own lawyer to the stand, proved my services to be worth consid- 
erably more than $2,000, and recovered judgment for that sum and interest 
My client then came to me and told me what I did not know — that he 
owned a lot of land worth $6,000, upon which my judgment was a lien; 
that he was in great distress financially, and that if I would discharge h s 
judgment, he would sell the lot and pay me $1,000; and if he ever could 
pay the balance of the judgment, he would, and if he could not, he would 
not. I said 'all right.' I discharged the judgment; he sold the lot, put 
the money in his pocket, and I have never seen him since." 



102 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER X. 



CONSPIRACY AGAINST BOOTH. 

The grand jury for the April term of the circuit court for 
Milwaukee county found a bill of indictment against Sher- 
man M. Booth, charging him with contaminating the chas- 
tity of Caroline N. Cook. This is a memorable case in the 
annals of jurisprudence and politics in Milwaukee, and in 
Carpenter's professional career. Booth was an original anti- 
slavery agitator and editor. At the time mentioned he was 
editor of the Free Democrat^ the most conspicuous republican 
paper in Wisconsin, and had been the leading figure in rescu- 
ing from the officers one Joshua Glover, a fugitive slave, 
which act resulted in a long and bitter series of legal pro- 
ceedings involving the question of state-rights, so-called, and 
precipitating an exciting conflict of authority between the 
state and federal courts. He had kept up the anti-slavery 
agitation, with intense vigor, for fifteen years; out of it had 
grown the republican party, which had taken from the dem- 
ocrats the control of the state, and still the fire of the Free 
Democrat was not less incessant or less eflective. The de- 
mocracy, therefore, determined to compass his ruin. 

Under such circumstances, Booth was indicted. The dis- 
trict attorney, Dwio-ht Corson, was a democrat, the judge 
was a democrat, the officials generally were democrats, and 
the democratic party had desperately resolved to convict the 
defendant if it could be done. Somebody not known to the 
public had engaged E. G. Ryan to aid the district attorney. 
The democratic papers prepared caricatures for publication 
immediately after Booth's conviction; the community was 
excited to an unusual degree, and the case was being spicily 
tried in the opposition newspapers. Things generally indi- 
cated that conviction was to be had at all hazards. Booth 
engaged II. L. Palmer for his defense, and the trial was 



CONSPIRACY AGAINST BOOTH. IO3 

drawing near. Josiah A. Noonan went to Carpenter and 
explained that, for a new-comer who had not yet secured a 
foot-hold, here was an opportunity of rare advantages to 
achieve professional fame. The case appeared to be, he 
argued, that a conspicuous politician was being assailed by 
the armies of the opposition, with the wicked intention of 
destroying his influence and power and thus injuring his 
party, the artillery in the enemy's hands being several per- 
sons of questionable character who had been lured into it by 
golden promises, and that the conspiracy was so well organ- 
ized, that, without the ablest defense, Booth, however inno- 
cent he might be, would be convicted as a republican, if not 
as a debaucher of virtue. 

Carpenter consented to go into the case. The partnership 
of Ryan, Carpenter & Jenkins had just been dissolved, and 
the two senior members of the firm were not friendly. The 
Milwaukee & La Crosse Railway litigation was in an in- 
cipient and semi-comatose condition, and Carpenter was 
without important engagements. He therefore entered upon 
the defense, " rejoicing as a strong man to run a race." The 
trial began July 25, 1859, and lasted two weeks. The court- 
house was crowded v^ith spectators from the opening to the 
closing hour. His address to the jury, which occupied two 
days, was the prominent featui^e of the afi;air. Many distin- 
guished persons listened to it, among them the noted Thomas 
Marshall, of Kentucky. He had halted in Milwaukee with 
the intention of opening a school of eloquence and elocution, 
but after being irresistibly held to a seat in the court-room 
for several days by the fascinating oratory of Carpenter and 
Ryan, he abandoned his project with the remark that " Mil- 
waukee had no need of any more teachers of eloquence." 

Carpenter, in his address, drew a divine picture of chas- 
tity — of a perfectly chaste woman — which yet stands unri- 
valed in judicial history. "She is not," he said, "simply a 
person of undefiled body, but pure and unsullied in thought, 
free from lustful desire. A chaste character requires a pure 



I04 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

mind as well as a pure body — pure actions and modest, 
delicate deportment — 'in maiden meditation fancy free.'" 

The jury did not agree, and before a new trial could be 
had for the vindication of Booth, all the members of the 
Cook family, by the same influence that procured the in- 
dictment and engaged* unusual counsel to aid the district 
attorney, were sent to England, and none of them were ever 
after heard of in Wisconsin. 

Carpenter was well satisfied with the results of his effort. 
Ryan had been defeated, the conspirators thwarted, and his 
reputation as an advocate of surpassing ability fully estab- 
lished in Milwaukee. After the excitement had been 
quieted, it is still related, one of the jurymen stated that he 
and others took their seats as jurors " sworn to convict Booth 
according to the charge in the indictment, whatever the evi- 
dence might be." The division of a jury under such circum- 
stances showed with what skill and power Carpenter con- 
ducted the defense. Booth has written that Carpenter 
received no fee for his valuable services in defending that 
celebrated persecution, " exxept the plaudits of the public 
and the lucrative professional business it afterward brought 
him." 

MURDER OF FATHER RICHMOND. 

With perhaps a single exception, Carpenter entertained a 
deeper regard for Father James Cook Richmond than for 
■any other man of God he ever knew. When, therefore, in 
July, 1866, news reached him that Father Richmond had 
been brutally murdered by two of his man-servants, while 
engaged on his farm in Dutchess county. New York, he was 
unspeakably siiocked, and determined at once to make every 
contribution in his power toward bringing the guilty wretches 
to the utmost punishment of the law. lie learned by corre- 
spondence that the murderers would be arraigned at the 
next session of the court, and when the oyer and terminer 
calendar for Dutchess county was reached, in December, pre- 
sented himself before AUard Anthony, the district attorney, 



MURDER OF FATHER RICHMOND. I05 

and offered to aid in the prosecution. Not knowing Carpen- 
ter, the district attorney had declined the first offer, but on 
being informed by the presiding judge, Jasper W. Gilbert, 
of the eminence of the volunteer, Mr. Anthony quickly 
changed his mind, and received Carpenter with great cour- 
tesy. The prisoners' counsel made cl strong attempt to prej- 
udice the jury by alleging that Carpenter, by his long 
journey and free services, showed that he was seeking re- 
venge, not justice. Carpenter made the closing argument. 
There is no record of what he said, but, according to the 
judgment of those who listened to him, it must have been a 
great effort. His heart was in the task, and he was then, at 
forty-two years of age, in the pride and prime of mental 
and physical existence. What effect the charge that he was 
a mere avenger had upon the jury may be left to the reader, 
for a verdict of murder in the first degree was returned 
within twenty minutes. The sentence of the court was 
death by hanging, to be carried into effect on January 25, 
1867 ; but through the instrumentalities of an appeal and a 
plea of guilty of manslaughter, the prisoners escaped the 
death penalty, though one committed self-destruction. 

Judge Gilbert, in a letter dated at Brooklyn, N. Y., Decem- 
ber 20, 1882,^ says: 

My recollection of the trial of Lewis will always remain fresh. Mr. 
Carpenter conducted the prosecution and made the concluding address. 
He exhibited uncommon skill in the examination of witnesses, and rare 
ability in the argument of the legal questions which arose during the trial. 
His summing up of the evidence was never excelled within the view of my 
experience. It was impassioned, but truly eloquent; strong in argument, 
convincing in its array of facts and in the disclosure of the intent which 
actuated the prisoner. But it was, nevertheless, free from all invective and 
harshness of expression. I look back to Mr. Carpenter's part in that case 
as one of the most conspicuous in the annals of criminal jurisprudence. 
He was certainly one of the most remarkable attorneys that ever appeared 
before me. 

Judge Gilbert is and was a good Presbyterian, and when 
Carpenter had concluded the argument, very naturally called 

1 At this time he was a judge of the supreme court of New York. 



I06 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

down to him: "I presume, Mr. Carpenter, you were a 
member of Father Richmond's church." "No," was the 
instant reply, "I take my religion by the curtesy." The 
average layman will not, perhaps, at first discover the wit of 
this, but to all lawyers it must be a delicate relish. 

TEST-OATH CASES. 

A circumstance that brought a large amount of lucrative 
business from the south was Carpenter's argument of what 
are known as the " Test-oath " cases. Augustus H. Gar- 
land, of Arkansas, since governor and United States sen- 
ator, appeared in Washington soon after the close of the war, 
in 1865, and filed his application for permission to practice 
before the supreme court. He had been regularly admitted 
in i860, and having subsequently taken part in the Rebellion 
as a confederate, was disbarred from further appearance 
before federal courts by the act of congress of January, 
1865, which declared that no person should be admitted to 
practice as an attorney in any federal court unless he had 
taken the oath prescribed in the act of July 2, 1862. He 
filed an application for permission to proceed with his prac- 
tice without taking that oath, which required every appli- 
cant to swear that he had not given aid, countenance or 
counsel to persons engaged in hostility to the government; 
that he had not sought, accepted or exercised the functions of 
any office in the confederate service, and that he had yielded 
no allegiance or support to any power, government or pre- 
tended power, government or constitution inimical to the fed- 
eral Union. 

Garland and hundreds of other lawyers in the south 
could not subscribe to this oath; therefore the law of 1865, 
if held valid and constitutional, would prevent them from 
practicing in the varior.s federal courts and in the supreme 
court. Garland's case was made a test for the entire south- 
ern bar. Reverdy Johnson had volunteered to support the 



TEST-OATH CASES. IO7 

application, but the southern bar, originally advised so to do, 
engaged Carpenter to appear as regular counsel. 

He held that exclusion from the practice of the law in fed- 
eral courts for past conduct was punishment for such con- 
duct; that the act of 1865, being of such a character, was in 
the nature of a bill of pains and penalties, and subject to the 
constitutional inhibition against bills of attainder; that such 
exclusion acted as a punishment for offenses which were not 
so punishable at the time they were committed, and was 
therefore an ex fost facto law; that attorneys are not federal 
but judicial officers, admitted at the pleasure of the court, and 
disbarred only for misconduct ascertained and declared in 
judgment form after an opportunity to be heard has been 
afforded. He also held that if the act of 1865 were other- 
wise valid. Garland, having been granted by President John- 
son full pardon and general amnesty, the law could not set 
aside and annul that pardon and disbar him from practice, 
for the generally accepted reason that executive clemency 
makes the recipient of it a new man — returns to him all the 
privileges and immunities he had theretofore enjoyed. 

The opinion of the court, delivered by Justice Stephen J. 
Field, affirmed as valid the propositions submitted by Car- 
penter and supported by Reverdy Johnson, and Garland at 
once proceeded with his practice without subscribing to the 
test-oath. The balance of the southern bar was, of course, 
allowed to follow him into the federal courts. 



I08 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XL 

THE McCARDLE CASE. 

As an exploration upon an unknown sea, the greatest case 
ever argued by Carpenter or any other attorney before the 
United States supreme court, was that of " Ex^arte Wm. H. 
McCardle." One of the reconstruction acts of March 7, 
1867, provided for the division of the states lately in rebel- 
lion into military districts, to be governed by officers of the 
army not less than brigadier-generals, who should protect 
life and property, preserve the peace and punish all offend- 
ers. One Wm. H. McCardle, of Mississippi, in his news- 
paper, libeled the federal officials, incited disobedience to the 
acts of congress and to the authority of the military com- 
manders. 

For this he was imprisoned by the order of General Ord 
to await trial by a military commission. A writ of habeas 
corpus was obtained for his release, which was argued before 
the United States circuit court for Mississippi. The pris- 
oner, upon judgment of the court, was remanded to jail. 
An appeal was taken to the United States supreme court, 
and as the case involved the constitutionality of the entire 
series of reconstruction acts of congress, the administration 
was deeply concerned in the matter. 

If the reconstruction acts should be declared unconstitu- 
tional, and McCardle snatched from trial and punishment 
under them, the ten seceding states would be placed by the 
highest court on the continent where they had failed to place 
themselves by four years of the most terrific warfare the 
world had ever seen. Edwin M. Stanton, the great secre- 
tary of war whom Andrew Johnson could not remove, and 
U. S. Grant, lieutenant-general of the armies, were in a state 
of extreme trepidation lest the genius and power of Jeremiah 
S. Black, who had been engaged by McCardle, should carry 



THE m'CARDLE case. IO9 

the case through to a result disastrous to the Union. Car- 
penter had at this time achieved wide distinction as an able 
and earnest supporter of the war and the reconstruction 
measures of congress, and was, with the advice and con- 
sent of others, engaged by Stanton to argue the cause 
jointly with Lyman Trumbull. He went to Washington in 
Februar}^ and, occupying Stanton's rooms, remained there 
until his argument was complete. 

On March 2, 1868, Trumbull argued a motion to dismiss 
the appeal for want of jurisdiction. The motion was denied. 
Judge Black then argued in favor of McCardle's discharge, 
urging the unconstitutionality of the laws under which Mis- 
sissippi was being governed and reconstructed. On March 
3d and 4th Carpenter made his now world-famous argu- 
ment ^ in opposition, affirming the validity of all the recon- 
struction laws and the legality of all rightful acts under them, 
and holding that McCardle must be, as he had been by the 
circuit court, remanded to jail. This efl^brt, which had the 
attention of the entire public north and south, occupied 
the advertence of the court during two days, and in print 
comprised about one hundred octavo pages. He opened in 
this solemn and sonorous strain: 

This is the first time in the history of the world that a bench of judges 
has been invoked to redress the wrongs, real or imaginary, of eleven mill- 
ions of people, and to establish the authority of ten pretending govern- 
ments. Such controversies have been decided by force, not by reason; in 
the field, not in the courts. Waterloo determined the fate of Napoleon, and 
he went in sullen silence to his ocean rock, never dreaming of the habeas 

iThe following letter to his wife discloses how Carpenter viewed the 
effect of his reasoning : 

Tuesday, March 3, 1S6S. 

Dear Girl: — Yours of 27th received, and I am greatly relieved, as I 
was beginning to be anxious, it had been so long since I heard from you. 

I spoke two and one-half hours to-day and did as well as I expected or 
hoped to do. I am praised nearly to death. I had more than half the sen- 
ate for an audience. Miller's face was "as the face of an angel," radiant 
with light and joy; Davis and Field looked troubled; Nelson, Clift'ord and 
Grier dead against me. But I shook them up and rattled their dry bones. 

Kiss the pets, and believe me, always the same. Matt. 



no LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

corpus. No lawyer can argue, no judge decide this cause without a painful 
Bense of responsibility. Its consequences will be upon us and upon our 
children; and generations yet unborn will rejoice or mourn over the prin- 
ciples to be here established. 

This court has been told, not for the first time, that it is the great con- 
servative department of the government; that if it does not keep constant 
vigil over the other departments, they will rush, as would the planets with- 
out the law of gravitation, into " hopeless and headlong ruin." There is 
nothing within the circle of human emotions, unless it be the pleasure with 
which a lover praises the real or imaginary charms of his mistress, at all 
to be compared to the delight experienced by a lawyer in glorifying a court. 
It results from our studies and our training that we entertain the utmost 
reverence for those who must declare what the law is. Within proper 
bounds this disposition is commendable; but the bar, in a free country, 
often have higher duties to perform; and this adulation of the judges may 
be carried to excess. The judges of this court, like the apostles of our 
Lord, are men of like passions and infirmities with other men. The bar 
stands in much the same relation to the court that the prophets held to the 
ruling powers of the ancient dispensation. It is our duty, when occasions 
require, to admonish and warn, and that, too, ivhether courts ivill listen, or 
Tuhcther they ivill refrain. There are times when general truths should 
have personal application; times when a prophet in Israel must say to a 
king of Israel, " T/iou art the man" But to do this, he should be a prophet, 
not a mere technical Levite. He should stand among his brethren like 
Saul in the multitude, head and shoulders above them all. The man to 
speak thus to this court should have the mien and the manner of a prophet; 
his hair whiter than milk, streaming down his shoulders. He should be as 
old as the apostles would have been had they lived to read McCardle's 
newspaper. With no qualification to perform this duty, except that I have 
read McCardle's newspaper, the task is before me; and it will be my aim to 
show, while conceding that this court is a very grave body, that it does not 
furnish the law of gravitation either to the material universe or to our po- 
litical system. 

Judge Black had engaged himself principally in lauding 
the court, in disparaging the military tribunals acting under 
the reconstruction laws, and in proclaiming that the President, 
congress, the departments, and almost everything else, re- 
volved around, and was governed by, the supreme court. 

This sophistry and adulation called out the closing sentence 
in the foregoing extract from Carpenter's speech. He held 
that the supreme court, instead of being above and over all, 
was not even co-ordinate with congress, but was, in every 



THE M CARDI.E CASE. Ill 

sense not conflicting with the constitution, to be governed by 
the legislation of that body. The court could not organize 
and re-organize congress, but congress could organize and 
re-organize the United States supreme court. In combating 
Black's argument that the court should overturn all the mil- 
itary districts and tribunals in the states lately in rebellion, 
Carpenter declared: 

The truth is, all these arguments rest upon doctrines repugnant to the 
first principles of our political faith; and, should they prove successful, the 
ultimate control over political subjects will pass finally and forever from the 
people. Instead of congress, subject to constant popular control, we shall 
have a tribunal of judges totally independent of the people. No prophet 
need come from his grave to tell us that such a government would not 
comport with the national genius or long continue. It is immaterial in 
v.hat/oi-m this power is exercised, or by what }iame it is called. When ten 
men can decide such a question, and the people can not turn them out of 
office if they decide erroneously, without a revolution, then it is certain 
that the supreme power has passed from the millions to the ten. Augustus 
assumed, consolidated and exercised all the powers of a despotism through 
the forms and in the name of a republic. And, in the case supposed, this 
government would not be the less an oligarchy because the ten ruling mag- 
istrates were called judges, instead of dukes or princes. 

That our government has stood thus long, that the decisions of this court 
are respected and submitted to by all parties and by all men, is owing to 
the fact that it has, at all times, most scrupulously confined itself to its proper 
province, and refused to embark in political discussions for party ends. Its 
aid has often been sought by politicians. It has uniforml}^ been denied, as 
I shall have occasion to show hereafter. The success of all free govern- 
ment depends upon a religious observance of this division of powers. When 
this court decides a cause, no matter how erroneous congress or the Presi- 
dent may think the decision, congress is powerless to grant re-argument 
or new trial; and if the President does not see the judgment executed, an 
impeachment will sweep him away as a " cumberer of the ground." When 
the President grants a pardon, no matter what congress or this court may 
think of the propriety of the act, both are bound by it. When congress 
determines any political matter, never so erroneously in the opinion ot this 
court or the President, its action is final and conclusive. It is far better 
that individual instances of injustice committed by either department should 
go unredressed than that the liberties of all should be swallowed up. The 
rule is general that a discretion committed to one authority is not to be rez'iexved 
by anotlier. No principle has been more repeatedly and emphatically de- 
clared by this court. 



112 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

On the second day, with the most distinguished men in 
the nation about him, listening with heart and soul to the 
flood of his argument for the Union, Carpenter, after quot- 
ing the opinion of Chief Justice Taney in Ableman vs. Booth,^ 
closed by enunciating this immortal doctrine: 

I am aware that this line of argument is not fashionable. This govern, 
ment, from the first, has held the language of a supplicant to the south. 
Much that was due to the insulted majesty of the nation was concealed 
from anxiety to win home deluded brethren. We entered the south with 
the pretended purpose of looi^ing for our postofficts and our forts, our 
arsenals and our custom-houses — property for which we had paid our 
money, and evidences of our title to which were deposited in our safe. We 
went in sorrow, not in anger; remonstrating, not threatening; beseeching, 
not commanding; and as often as we would have gathered her people into 
our fold, and extended to them our fellowship and protection, they would 
not. Our overtures for peace were met with war, bitter and relentless — 
war to the knife, and war to the end — until the land was dotted over with 
fresh-laid graves "on every high hill and beneath every green ti-ee." 

Had the conciliatory measures of the government accomplished the pur- 
pose without the shedding of blood, that would have been some compensa- 
tion. Were the rebel states even now willing to take their place in the 
Union under the reasonable regulations provided by congress, it might be 
wisdom to forget, as soon as possible, the dreadful past. If, instead of this, 
however, these states come into this court charging oppression and tyranny 
upon the most indulgent government that ever existed on earth ; if, instead 
of confessing their fault, they come here to contest and wrangle; come 
here claiming immunity from punishment while resisting and thwarting 
the purposes of congress; if they will drive on a discussion of this question, 
then it must be discussed. And if the result shall tend to remind the peo- 
ple of the north that they have conquered the rebels of the south; and if 
it shall provoke the government to speak with its sovereign voice; if 
meanwhile reconstruction in the south stands still, and her people have to 
submit to military rule; if her fair fields remain desolate, her trade and 
commerce languish, her industry be not employed, or fail of its reward, 
s/ie can not say v:e did it. 

Unpleasant as it may be to review the history of the last six years, or 
dwell upon the wickedness of this Rebellion, in no other way can we prop- 
erly consider, or correctly determine, upon the existing state of things. 
Counsel have done well for their clients by ignoring secession, rebellion 
and war. They have argued this case as though Mississippi were as inno- 
cent as Massachu-etts, and had been as faithful to her constitutional duty ; 

1 31 of Howard's Reports. 



THE m'CARDLE case. II3 

and when compelled, now and then, to allude to the fact that war has 
existed, they have changed the subject as soon as possible, and besought 
this court to relieve those they represent from the just consequences of 
their folly and crime. They admit that, during the war, the United States 
could overthrow and demolish the rebel governments; but they insist that 
the surrender of Lee and Johnston entitled those governments, or any 
which the people of those states might establish, to full communion as 
states of the Union. I remember to have heard a clergyman dealing in 
bold rhetoric, in view of the fact that the Son of Man might have called 
legions of angels to defend him, yet submitted to be crucified by his ene- 
mies, exclaim, "Jesus overcame the world by submitting to the world." The 
argument of our opponents reverses the proposition, and maintains that we 
lost all control over the south by conquering the south. All admit that 
the government which existed de facto in Mississippi, the day before the 
surrender of Lee and Johnston, was subject to the absolute will of the 
nation. We might have crushed it beneath the iron heel of war. But it is 
preposterous for counsel to say that by conquering the rebel armies, the 
only power which could sustain that government, and by effecting complete 
conquest of the south — its territory, its people, and its rebel governments — 
congress lost the right even to make a respectful request in regard to the 
results of our victory; and that the consequences of this fearful Rebellion, 
which for four years shook the continent, are to be "trammeled up " by the 
rules of special pleading, upon a bill in equity. 

Wht;n Carpenter finished his speech, Stanton clasped him 
in his arms, and, with tears in his eyes, exclaimed fervently: 
** Carpenter, you have saved us ! " * 

The court held the matter under advisement, and on 
March 27th, of that year, congress repealed the act of 
March, 1867, under which McCardle was enabled to appeal 

1 When Carpenter was ready to return to Wisconsin, he received this 

letter : 

War Department, Washington, April 7, 1868. 

My Dear Sir: — In taking leave of you, I can not forbear expressing my 
veiy great satisfaction with the able and successful services you have ren- 
dered the government in the important cases committed to your charge in 
the supreme court of the United States. 

The personal intercourse between us, occasioned by your relation to those 
cases, has impressed me not only with a high appreciation of your profes- 
sional attainments and ability, but has been to me a very great pleasure. 

Wishing you every success and fortune in life, and desirous to contribute 
to the same whenever opportunity may offer, I am, with sincere regard, 
your friend. Edwin M. Stanton. 

To Matt. H. Carpenter 
8 



114 lAFB OF CARPENTER. 

to the United States supreme court. Carpenter and Trum- 
bull then appeared and argued that the court, having lost 
jurisdiction of the case, must drop it, and McCardle must 
return to jail. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase delivered the 
opinion of the court sustaining that view of the matter. 

Carpenter's part in this critical cause gave him an enviable 
name. He was praised everywhere, and, what is extremely 
uncommon, received in person high tributes from the bench 
itself. 

Before the argument was made, Stanton desired its text 
submitted to Wm. M. Meredith, one of the greatest lawyers 
in Pennsylvania. Not in the least offended. Carpenter started 
for Philadelphia, to comply with the unusual request. He 
entered Meredith's presence greatly embarrassed, and began 
reading the argument, expecting to be frequently and sharply 
interrupted. Pleasantly surprised, he continued the reading to 
the end, thus occupying several hours, without a single inter- 
ruption or question. When he had finished, Meredith in- 
quired: "Mr. Carpenter, how old are you?" The reply 
was, "Forty-three last December." With evident surprise 
and admiration, Meredith took his visitor by the hand, say- 
ing: "That is a remarkable production, and you must be a 
remarkable man. I have no sujjfjestions to make in regard 
to it." 

Shortly after, Stanton received a letter from Meredith, 
congratulating the government on the good fortune of having 
secured such able counsel, and declaring he "could not add 
one word to Carpenter's argument and would not take one 
from it." But a few months elapsed before Carpenter was 
being urged as a candidate for the United States senate. His 
enemies then alleged that the argument in the McCardle 
case was not his own, but Reverdy Johnson's. This libel 
was at once settled by an unequivocal denial from Johnson. 

Probably no graver constitutional questions were ever 
presented before the United States supreme court than those 
involved in the McCardle matter. Carpenter's brief is often 



THE MCARDIJE CASE. II5 

referred to as one of the masterpieces in forensic literature; 
and it is not less than remarkable that the positions argued 
by him constituted the very grounds upon which the recon- 
struction measures enacted by congress were founded, and 
the states related back' to their places in the federal Union. 
" It is not often," Judge Mac Arthur says, " that a mere law- 
yer has the good fortune to mold and re-instate the jurispru- 
dence of his country. Erskine, when he vindicated and 
saved freedom of speech in the Stockdale trials, for the bene- 
fit of all English-speaking people; Hamilton, when in a 
single effort he re-established the true doctrine of libel; and 
Carpenter, when he enforced the principles upon which the 
national Union must ever repose for its safety, had that great 
good fortune." 

Nothing can be so fitting to close this chapter as the fol- 
lowing letter to his wife, written while Carpenter was occu- 
pying rooms in the war department: 

February 24, 1868. 

My Dear Cara: — I have been in such a fearful whirl for five or six 
days that I could not find time to write jou. I got my " big " brief into 
the hands of the government printer this morning. Stanton has ordered 
one thousand copies to be printed, so I shall be able to send you one, prob- 
ably. 

Stanton sent for me this morning and said to me: "You may as well 
understand that you are in for the whole fight. Take a room in the de- 
partment and be at home." He then delivered me the key to No. 29, which 
is an elegant ofBce, occupied by the solicitor of the war department until 
that office was abolished, at the close of the war. It is only four doors 
from the secretary's office, and one of the finest apartments in the building. 
After giving me the key he gave me a check for five thousand dollars as a 
retainer. 

What will come of all this fight I can not predict. The house will to- 
dav, at five P. M., vote the impeachment, and the chances are that the sen- 
ate will convict. If this programme shall be carried fully into execution, 
Stanton will be firmly seated in the department, and I shall have a chance 
in all the big cases that come up. 

But however it may termmate, I shall not be affected injuriously ; that is, 
whatever comes of it, the fact of my retainer in this matter, if I can only 
manage to make a good argument in the McCardle case a week from to- 
day, will be a big thing for me professionally. I went by Stanton's direc- 



Il6 LIFE OF CARPENTER, 

tion to Philadelphia last week to confer with Mr. Meredith, who, he says, 
i» the biggest lawyer he ever knew. I read my brief to him, and he said 
he had not a single suggestion to make — it was unanswerable on every 
point That pleased Stanton as much as it did me, which, I confess, was 
considerable. 

Kiss the baWes, the darlings. How I do want to see them; how much I 
would give to drop in an hour only and kiss you all and hear the boy call 
«' da-da." 

Farewell, my darlings ; God bless you all. Your loving 

Matt. 



TRIAL OF W. W. BELKNAP. 11^ 

CHAPTER XII. 

TRIAL OF W. W. BELKNAP. 

A state trial that attracted rapt attention throughout the 
American republic was that of Wm. W. Belknap, President 
Grant's secretary of war. In March, 1876, the judiciary 
committee of the house of representatives brought in articles 
of impeachment against Belknap for " high crimes and mis- 
demeanors." The senate, which hears all impeachments, 
allowed the filing of the articles and fixed a day for the trial 
by the " managers " appointed by the house.^ 

The senate convened for the hearing on April 4, 1876, 
Belknap appearing with his counsel. Matt. H. Carpenter, 
Jeremiah S. Black and Montgomery Blair. Carpenter at 
once submitted that his client was merely a private citizen, 
having resigned the office of secretary of war on March 2, 
1876, and the senate, sitting as a court of impeachment, there- 
fore had no jurisdiction. He filed an affidavit to this effect, 
in which was the additional averment that the resignation 
was accepted on the day it was sent in. The question of 
jurisdiction was argued at length, but finally decided ad- 
versely to Belknap. Carpenter then asked that the trial be 
postponed until December — until after the heat and acrimony 
of the pending presidential campaign had subsided. Irj argu- 
ing he said: 

On the 6th day of April, 1876, we find my client is pleading that his trial 
may be postponed until there will be no political occasion for convicting 
him, and when there will be nothing but the ends of justice to answer; and 
on the 6th day of April, 1862, at about the same hour. General Belknap 
was in the forefront of the line of Union troops who made their last stand 
»nd rolled back the confederate forces on the bloody field of Shiloh. 

1 Scott Lord, of New York; J. Proctor Knott, of Kentucky ; William P. 
Lynde, of Wisconsin; J. A. McMahon, of Ohio; G. A. Jenks, of Pennsyl- 
vania; E. G. Lapham, of New York, and George F. Hoar, of Massachu- 
setts. 



Il8 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

This brought forth applause which the presiding officer 
could not suppress. Both political parties were anxiously 
seeking a shibboleth for the pending campaign, and expect- 
ing to wring one from the ruins of private reputations by 
this trial. The senate refused to grant any adjournment. 
Carpenter then argued on the jurisdiction of the senate over 
a private citizen, saying if Belknap could be tried for any act 
done in an office formerly held by him, Andrew Jackson 
might, under the same principle, be impeached in his grave 
for arresting a federal judge during the siege of New Or- 
leans. In the course of the argument he quoted from the 
remarks made by several sitting senators at the trial of Wm. 
Blount, of Tennessee, in which they declared that " only 
civil officers could be impeached." Belknap, having re- 
signed, was not a civil officer; but many senators did not 
propose to grant the respondent any particular rights or 
privileges, nor proceed against him under accepted rules of 
practice, if thereby they could gain any advantage for their 
respective partisan campaigns. Carpenter thus referred to 
one of their lawless propositions: 

The honorable manager [Mr. Lord] claims this court is exempt from 
adherence to rules of pleading and the methods of judicial tribunals, and 
that in reaching its conclusions it may proceed with the freedom of the 
wind, " which bloweth where it listeth." So is a mob on the Rocky moun- 
tains administering lynch-law upon a supposed murderer exempt from such 
rules and methods, and the mob could as fairly pretend to be exercising 
judicial power as could this august tribunal while denying the principles 
and overstepping the limits of the law. 

On the following day Carpenter's motion to vacate the 
order overruling the plea of abatement, or want of jurisdic- 
tion, was filed by Judge Black, and argued upon the ground 
that it was entered upon a mere majority vote, whereas it 
should have been supported by two-thirds of the senators. 
The motion was denied, and Belknap was ordered to plead 
further to the exhibit of impeachment. 

Carpenter, who was ill during the entire trial — which lasted 
nearly four months — at one time necessitating an adjournment 



TRIAL. OF W. W. BELKNAP. II9 

upon an affidavit of total disability by Dr. Bliss, carried the 
burden of defense, conducted the examination of witnesses 
and kept the run of the testimony. Not only this, but the 
closing argument for the defense, the principal one of the trial, 
was intrusted to him. That argument, which was begun on 
Wednesday, July 25, occupied two days, and was delivered 
from the seat formerly occupied by him as a senator. It was 
an entertaining effort, covering all the great state trials of 
civilized history. In spite of threatened imprisonment of the 
audience for disturbance, he was frequently interrupted by 
applause. In justification of his argument for a rehearing, 
to which some of the senators had objected, he quoted the 
highest authority in the universe, thus, receiving the marked 
approbation of the populace: 

It was after Aaron had directed the people to mold a golden calf, and the 
people rising in the morning had offered before it holocausts and peace- 
victims, and, after sitting down to eat and drink, had risen up to play : 

" And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down." 

Moses had been presenting the case of Israel, and the Lord had heard 
enough of it. 

"Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the 
land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves; 

"8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded 
them ; they have made them a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and 
have sacrificed thereunto, and said. These be thy gods, O Israel, which 
have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 

"9, And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, be- 
hold, it is a stiff-necked people : 

" 10. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against 
them, and that I may consume them : and I will make of thee a great 
nation." 

But Moses persisted! 

"II. And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said: Lord, why doth 
thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out 
of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 

"12. Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say. For 7nisc kief Aid. he 
bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from 
the face of the earth.' Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil 
against thy people. 

" 13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou 



I20 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed 
as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give 
unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. 

" 14. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his 
people." 

Thus it appears that the judgment of the Almighty was reconsidered, and 
upon tlic re-argument of Moses was reversed. 

Carpenter and his counsel had a task of great del'cacy, for 
Belknap had ordered them not to bring his wife into the case 
in an}' manner whatever, but to defend him as though he 
were guilty. Belknap was charged with receiving as pay- 
ment for their appointments, money from those (C. P. Marsh 
and John S. Evans) to whom he had given post-traderships. 
The theory of the defense was that Mrs. Belknap influenced 
her husband to make the appointment, and Marsh made a 
present of money to her therefor without Belknap's knowl- 
edge, without exercising any influence over him, and without 
evil intent. In referring to what grew out of this. Carpenter 
said: 

Considering this branch of the case, I think it sheds light upon other 
parts of the testimony and contributes greatly to support the theory of the 
respondent's innocence. It certainly affords no evidence of guilt, l^ut sug- 
gests one great moral lesson which I state for the benefit of the ladies in the 
gallery : sweethearts and wives, never keep a secret from your lovers and 
husbands. 

While making reference to the peculiar anomalies of poli- 
tics he roused the galleries with this startling contrast: 

The part the respondent bore during the war, is recorded history. Upon 
a former occasion I referred to the coincidence that the articles of impeach- 
ment were served upon him on the anniversary of the battle of Shiloh, and 
at the very hour of the day when, under the eye of General Grant, he 
moved into the line which made a successful stand a<;ainst the fierce on- 
slaught of General Beauregard and turned the tide of battle in favor of the 
Union. This was the first time the great commander ever saw Belknap, 
General Grant never can forget the men whose bravery in the war for the 
Union attracted his attention. That day's work made Belknap secretary of 
war. And, as though to keep this matter fresh in the mind of the senate, 
on Friday, July 7 (see Congressional Record), the proceedings of this court 
were suspended to pass a bill removing General Beauregard's political dis- 



TRIAL OF W. W. BELKNAP. 121 

abilities; and then the court resumed its proceedings to determine whether 
it should impose political disabilities upon General Belknap. 

The brief summing up of the evidence in that memorable 
case and the final plea by Carpenter must be perpetuated 
here: 

Evans has testified most positively that he never paid the secretary, di- 
rectly or indirectly, a cent for his appointment. That the contract he made 
with Marsh he understood to be a business transaction between himself and 
Marsh ; and that he did not understand, when he entered into the contract, 
that tl»e secretary had or was to have the slightest interest in it. 

This positive, uncontradicted and unquestioned testimony of Evans re- 
duces the case to this single question : Was there such arrangement, under- 
standing and agreement between the secretary and Marsh.' — and let me 
repeat, Marsh is the chief witness of the prosecution, without whose testi- 
mony there is no case; and reminding you ot the legal maxim in relation 
to witnesses, canonized by ages of judicial experience: Fahiis in uno, Jalsus 
in omnibus, let me turn to the Record and read you the questions I put to 
Mr. Marsh and the answers he gave : 

" Question. Was there any agreement on your part to pay Mr. Belknap 
any money in consideration that he would appoint you post-trader at Fort 
Sill.? 

"Answer. There was not. 

"Q. (By Mr. Carpenter.) At any time? 

•' A. At any time. 

" Q. Was there ever any agreement between you and Mr. Belknap that 
you should pay him any pecuniary consideration for or in consideration of 
his appointing Mr. Evans post- trader at Fort Sill.*' 

" A. There was not. 

"Q. Was there ever any agreement between you and Mr. Belknap that 
you would pay him any money or other valuable consideration in consider- 
ation of his continuing Mr. Evans as post-trader at Fort Sill? 

"A. Never. 

"Q. So far as you know, was not the only inducement leading to that ap- 
pointment the kindness which you and your wife had shown to Mrs. Bel- 
knap at your house ? 

" A. That certainly had a great deal to do with it, I presume. 

*'Q. Did you make, or claim to have, any bill against him for anything 
done for Mrs. Belknap? 

"A. No, sir. 

"Q. Your treatment of her was entirely gratuitous? 

" A. Yes, sir. 

"Q. But of course led to a feeling of friendship between the families? 

" A. Yes, sir. 



122 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

" Q. You say that the friendship which arose from the fact that Mrs. 
Belknap had been sick at your house, and been kindly treated, had a great 
deal to do with that appointment; was there, apart from that friendly feel- 
ing, any consideration moving from you to Belknap to procure that ap- 
pointment? 

•'A. None." 

If this testimony is true, it ends this case. If not true, it is wilfully and 
corruptly false. Marsh must know whether there was or not any agree- 
ment in this behalf between the respondent and himself, and it is well- 
settled law, that, if a jury believe that a witness has committed wilful 
perjury in one part of his testimony, they are at liberty to disregard his tes- 
timony altogether. 

Now, senators, let me appeal to you, upon your honor and your con- 
science — for that is where the case must rest — whether in a case like 
this, where every supposed criminating circumstance is fully explained, and 
every ground for suspicion is entirely removed ; and where the only direct 
testimony, and that, too, from the chief prosecuting witness, fully and fairly 
and absolutely contradicts all presumption of criminality, you can convict 
this respondent. Upon what can a conviction rest.'' Every circumstance 
relied upon for inference of criminality fully explained, every ground of 
suspicion removed, the only direct evidence in the case completely acquit- 
ting the respondent of any criminal intent, corrupt agreement or purpose, 
how are you to find him guilty.' You are sworn to judge this matter 
impartially and according to law. You can not fall back upon misguided 
public opinion, nor upon the clamor of the press. No matter what the 
people believe, no matter what the press declares — ivhat does the proof 
establish.'' For your judgment in this case you must answer, not to editors, 
not to the excited and misled people, but to God, who is truth itself. * * * 

Is it possible that in 1S76 a citizen before the highest tribunal in the land 
is to be convicted of a crime which rests in intent, when no circumstantial 
testimony worth a fig bears upon it, and when the only witnesses who have 
any positive knowledge or can give any direct testimony, swear to his per- 
fect innocence.'' Eighteen hundred and seventy- six, the centennial year in 
the life of a great nation, its highest tribunal in session, exercising the most 
awful jurisdiction ot the government; trying a citizen who has filled sta- 
tions of high trust, and rendered gallant service in the field ; and lie de- 
manding justice — justice, that a peasant may demand from a king — 
justice, that any court of law would award to the lowest miscreant — is 
justice to be denied to him because the exigencies of a political campaign 
demand his conviction? 

When this was uttered, in clarion voice and with stirring 
effect, Carpenter stood half-way down the centre aisle of the 
senate chamber, every eye riveted upon his splendid figure 



TRIAL OF W. W. BELKNAP. 1 23 

and every ear strained to catch his lightest word. Suddenly- 
stopping for an instant, he strode directly to the front desk 
in a startling and impressive manner, and pointing his finger 
at acting Vice President Ferry, finished the sentence : " No, 
Mr. President, this senate will not yield to such a considera- 
tion, will not fix such a blot upon our national escutcheon ! " 

That scene will never be forgotten by those who saw it — 
a drama tragic and effective beyond description. It must 
have recalled vividly to every auditor that prodigious denoue- 
ment in the trial of the dean of St. Asaph, where Erskine 
stands, like a tiger at bay, between the threats of a perverse 
and wicked court and the equitable rights of his client. 

The gifted pen of the late John W. Forney left a word- 
painting of the occasion: 

Carpenter's appearance on the scene was characteristic of the man. 
Strikingly handsome, he was the central figure in one of the rarely im- 
pressive incidents of the upper chamber. He had the full, open face of 
Beecher, with a head of abnormal massiveness. His eyes, a liquid blue, 
beamed with an irrepressible merriment. His hair, tinged with gray, fell in a 
loose fringe to the base of the brain, relieving him of any appearance of 
mere foppishness. His voice was a combination of the flute and nightin- 
gale. He might have talked commonplace and held an audience en- 
chanted the livelong day. His speech was a mingling of biting wit, exu- 
berant fancy and unerring logic. Speech inebriated him. He rose and 
rose to higher flights of fancy, missing no detail, daunted by no figure, no 
matter how complex, and never losing the sequence, no matter how com- 
plicated the parentheses. It was by his consummate cleverness that the 
senate took courage to dismiss the impeachment. 

On July 31st the final vote in the senate was had, each 
senator, on his feet, voting orally on all of the five articles 
and seventeen specifications of the exhibit separately, and on 
that day a judgment of acquittal was entered. Among those 
who voted not guilty were T. O. Howe and Angus Cam- 
eron, senators from Wisconsin. 

General Belknap has always been of the opinion that his 
acquittal, during a period of bitter partisan feeling and in- 
tense political excitement, when Abraham was willing to olTer 
up Isaac to appease the cry of corruption, was due largely, 



124 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

if not wholly, to the personal influence of Carpenter and the 
powerful manner in which he presented the case. 

The weather was destructively hot during the progress of 
the trial, and Carpenter was not in good health even when 
spring opened. The burden of the case, which he fought 
against the combined ability, adroitness and determination of 
both houses of congress, was put upon him, both as to the 
law and the facts, and when his client received a verdict of 
acquittal he was so worn and prostrated that weeks passed 
before he fully recovered from the effects of the effort. 

When the exhibit of impeachment was made, Belknap 
consulted privately with Justice Miller as to who should be 
engaged as counsel. " Matt. Carpenter and Judge Black," 
was Miller's reply ; " the best lawyers in America." 



THE ELECTORAL, COMMISSION. 12$ 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION. 

Previous to the arrival of the day fixed for counting the 
electoral votes claimed to have been cast in 1876 for R. B. 
Hayes and S. J. Tilden, the opposing candidates for Presi- 
dent, it had been ascertained there would be a contest as to 
one elector in Wisconsin and all the electors in Florida, 
Louisiana, Oregon and South Carolina. As the loss of one 
of the one hundred and eighty-five votes claimed for Hayes 
would give the Presidency to Tilden, the public was natu- 
rally led into some excitement by this dispute. The countr3r 
was aroused from ocean to ocean, and civil war was appre- 
hended. 

In order to settle the question without strife or disturb- 
ance, the electoral commission was organized by act of con- 
gress, approved January 29, 1877. It consisted of five sen- 
ators — Geo. F. Edmunds, Fred. T. Frelinghuysen, Oliver 
P. Morton, Allen G. Thurman^ and Thomas F. Bayard;^ 
five representatives — Henry B. Payne,^ Eppa Hunton,^ Geo. 
F. Hoar, James A. Garfield and Josiah G. Abbott,^ and five 
associate justices of the United States supreme court — 
Nathan Cliflx)rd,i W. Strong, Joseph P. Bradley, Sam. F. 
Miller and Stephen J. Field.^ 

The commission had all the authority of both houses or 
either house of congress as to taking testimony and admit- 
ting evidence, and was, under its own rules, to enter upon 
an investigation whenever more than one set of returns 
should be received from any state, and was to make a report 
of its decision to congrress. But that decision was not to de- 
prive the defeated candidate of the right to try the title of 
his opponent, under quo warranto proceedings, to the office 
of President. 

1 Democrats. 



126 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

The opposing candidates were permitted to be represented 
by counsel before the commission. Wm. H. Barnum, chair- 
man of the democratic national committee, went quickly 
to Carpenter and asked if he was willing to be retained to 
argue the Lousiana feature of Tilden's case for a fee of 
$10,000. Before giving a definite answer to Barnum he 
was approached by Zach. Chandler, chairman of the re- 
publican committee, who inquired whether he would act as 
counsel for Hayes. Yes, he would; but, telling Chandler of 
Barnum's proposition. Carpenter stipulated that the arrange- 
ments between them must be completed on a given day, or 
he should conclude the republicans did not desire his serv- 
ices. To this Chandler agreed. However, owing to the 
excitement of the time and the enormous pressure of polit- 
ical business, the day fixed passed, and he forgot to keep the 
promise. The other chairman was more alert and prompt, 
and the moment the stipulated time expired, paid Carpenter 
a retainer on behalf of Tilden. Two days later Chandler 
appeared for the purpose of completing the contract, and 
was informed by Carpenter that it was too late, he had re- 
ceived Tilden's retainer. Both felt deeply chagrined over 
thfe unfortunate outcome of a little negligence that was 
wholly natural. Chandler being particularly bitter in denun- 
ciation of himself. 

These circumstances were never given out to have their 
proper effect on the public mind, and Carpenter was brought 
under a torrent of the severest censure.^ The republican 
masses, not understanding the scope of professional privi- 
leges, entertained the erroneous impression that he was 

iWhcn the clamor of the press against Carpenter's professional engage- 
ments was loudest and most unreasonable, his wife wrote that she was 
sorry and nnnoycd, and asked whether he could not en<i;age in causes that 
would please the newspapers. In his reply occurs this sentence: 

"While I live and have my health, I must walk the mountain ranges of 
the profession, swept by the storm of human hate and passion. Neither 
Belf-respect nor my love for you will permit me to seek the obscurity and 
consequent shelter of deep valleys and smooth meadows." 



THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION. 1 27 

actively engaged, in the fullness of his heart, in an attempt to 
place the democracy on the throne of power. No amount 
of explanation could, at that time, change the public belief. 
The democrats understood Carpenter's eminence as a consti- 
tutional lawyer, his perfect grasp of the chaos and wicked- 
ness of Louisiana politics, and the influence of his arguments 
upon the members of the supreme court, five of whom were 
to sit on the commission. They engaged him, therefore, as 
a lawyer, not as a republican or as a politician. The elect- 
oral commission was the highest tribunal that ever sat on 
the American or any other continent, and the matter to be 
decided by it, that of who was rightfully entitled to stand at 
the head of the American republic for the ensuing four 
years, was beyond all the most important of an}- ever sub- 
mitted to human judgment for rightful adjudication. The 
peace and prosperity, and, it seemed to many, the very life 
and form of government of a powerful nation were at stake. 
Carpenter felt this in all its force, for he said in opening the 
argument: 

I beg your honors to pause a moment and consider the lesson to be 
taught to the politicians ot" this country by this day's work. This is no 
ordinary occasion, no ordinary tribunal, no ordinary cause. An emergency 
has arisen which has induced congress to create a tribunal never before 
known in this country ; a tribunal composed of whatever is most distin- 
guished for integrity, for learning, for judicial and legislative experience, to 
conduct the nation through a great crisis. Your decision will stand as a 
land-mark in the history of this country. 

Therefore, to be selected out of hundreds of able and dis- 
tinguished jurists to specially argue the most complicated 
and important branch of the questions involved, that of who 
had been duly appointed presidential electors in the distracted 
state of Louisiana, was an honor no ambitious lawyer could 
decline simply because his client chanced to entertain politi- 
cal tenets not in accord with his own. His friends, also, 
looked upon it as a professional compliment of the highest 
character. Anticipating, however, the assaults that might 



tlS LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

be made upon his political patriotism and integrity, he pref- 
aced his argument with a plain statement of his position: 

Permit me to state in the outset why I appear here. It is not Itecause 
Mr. Tilden was my choice for President; nor is my judgment in this case 
at all aflected by friendship for him as a man, for I have not the honor of 
a personal acquaintance with him. I voted against him on the 7th of No- 
vember last, and if this tribunal could order a new election I should vote 
against him again ; believing as I do that the accession of the democratic 
party to power at his time would be the greatest calamity that could befall 
our country except one, and that one greater calamity would be to keep 
them out by falsehood and fraud. I appear here professionally, to assert, 
and, if possible, establish the right of ten thousand legal voters of Louisi- 
ana, who, without accusation or proof, indictment or trial, notice or hear- 
ing, have been disfranchised by four persons incorporated with perpetual 
succession under the name and style of " the returning-board of Louisiana." 
I appear, also, in the interests of the next republican candidate for Presi- 
dent, whoever he may be, to insist that this tribunal shall settle principles 
by which, if we carry Wisconsin for him by ten thousand majority, as I 
hope we may, no canvassing-board, by fraud, or induced by bribery, shall 
be able to throw the vote of that state against him and against the voice 
and will of our people. 

But as the masses generally had no knowledge that Carpen- 
ter thus explained his political status^ nor that he refused 
to argue in favor of any of the disputed Tilden electors save 
those from Louisiana, the republicans, of his own state 
especially, were variously incensed, astonished and sorrowful 
when it was announced that he had really appeared for the 
democrats. They seemed wholly unable to separate Car- 
penter the advocate from Carpenter the distinguished repub- 
lican citizen and senator, and sincerely felt that the public 
record of the latter had been contaminated and his party 
patriotism shaken by the professional engagements of the 
former. Although such were the conclusions of that strained 
and tempestuous hour, it will not be the judgment of pos- 
terity. All will then see that the tender of a retainer in that 
case was a proud professional triumph, equal to his loftiest 
achievements as an orator and senator, such a garland to be 
added to the chaplet of fame as no man could trample beneath 



THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION. 1 29 

his feet without a sacrifice greater than men are asked or 
expected to make. 

In his argument Carpenter held that the act creating the 
electoral commission was constitutional, and that the tribunal 
thus created had authority to make all the investigations con- 
templated. He then showed that, although the Hayes elect- 
ors in Louisiana were defeated by about eight thousand 
votes, the returning-board threw out ten thousand, and there- 
upon declared the Tilden electors defeated by about two 
thousand votes. This he held to be unconstitutional, as the 
returning-board had assumed judicial when it only possessed 
ministerial powers, and, by throwing out their votes, disfran- 
chised ten thousand citizens of the state of Louisiana, for the 
alleiied but insufficient reason that other voters had commit- 
ted some crime. 

Louisiana once enacted a law providing that in case three 
persons should certify, in a certain manner, that riot, tumult, 
intimidation or bribery affected the result at any poll or vot- 
ing place, the returning-board should investigate the alleged 
facts, and, if found true, exclude the entire vote of that pre- 
cinct. Under this law the board acted, though no such 
sworn statement as its provisions required accompanied any 
of the returns. Therefore, had the law been constitutional, 
which Carpenter contended it was not, because nobody can 
be disfranchised except for crime of which he has been duly 
convicted, there was no authority for the board to proceed to 
any investigation or throw out any votes. He also contended 
that William P. Kellogg, being governor of the state, could 
not certify to his own election as presidential elector, nor 
legally hold at the same time, which in fact he did, the two 
offices of governor and elector; and that Brewster and 
Levissee, two Hayes electors, could not, without violating 
section i of article 2 of the constitution, perform the func- 
tions of their office, because they were both, at the moment 
of their election, holding offices of profit and trust under the 
federal government. 
9 



130 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

He argued that the commission could go behind the cer- 
tificates and the returns and discover these facts, and having 
ascertained them, overturn the results accomplished in viola- 
tion of the law. He admitted there had been "murders, 
maimings and whippings in Louisiana," but declared "these 
fell upon individuals," and did not form a lawful reason for 
the disfranchisement of even one voter, much less ten thou- 
sand. He said: 

If you shall say of the I lay os electors that although they were defeated 
by the people by eight thousand majority, and although two of them were 
forbidden by the constitution of tiie United States to be electors, and four 
others were so forbidden by the constitution of the state, yet having been 
counted in by fraud, and having in fact acted, although in violation of 
express constitutional provisions state and federal, they were duly 
appointed, and their votes niust be accepted, _)'tf« xvill tJicnby declare that a 
fraud is as good as a viajority. 

The commission decided by a vote of eight to seven 
(contrary to Carpenter's argument) that it was not compe- 
tent under the constitution to go into any evidence aliunde 
the papers or certificates opened by the president of the sen- 
ate, to prove that other persons than those certified by the 
governor of Louisiana had been chosen electors; nor com- 
petent to prove that any electors so certified held at the time 
of their election any office of profit or trust under the United 
States. And so the eight votes of Louisiana, upon the face 
of the returns sent to the senate, though defeated by the 
people, were counted for Hayes.^ 

Carpenter became ill while making his argument, from 
the smoke of the candles in the United States supreme court 
room, and the commission adjourned over from the evening 
of February 13th to the morning of Wednesday, February 
15th, at his request. 

He was so thoroughly in the habit of making his exami- 
nation of every subject from a strictly legal and constitutional 
stand-point, that frequently he failed to discern party lines. 

1 By the votes of S. F. Miller, W. Strong, J. P. Bradley, G. F. Edmunds, 
O. P. Morton, F. T. Frelinghuysen, J. A. Garfield and Geo. F. Hoar. 



THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION. I3I 

Always, after he became allied with the republicans, he 
contented himself with the theory that by this rule he could 
not often go astray in a party sense, for his party was almost 
always in the right, as were also the law and the constitution. 
He was considerably chafed, however, by the clamor his 
appearance as a mere attorney for Tilden brought from 
numerous republican sources. He received hundreds of 
letters from those who did not understand that an attorney 
can not, in accepting retainers, be limited any more by party 
than religious lines, either berating him for " abandoning re- 
publicanism," as they put it, or expressing sorrow over the 
injury his course would entail upon the party. He answered 
those letters, and this, to a well-known gentleman of Colum- 
bia county, is preserved: 

Washington, D. C, Februar}' 20, 1S77. 
Mr. G. C. Butterfield: 

Dear Sir : — Yours of the — th was duly received. The ink with which 
it was written was so pale that I found it impossible to read it. It may^ 
have been wet in the passage. If it is about anything that you are inter- 
ested in you will probably write again. The weather here is delightful and 
the excitement regarding the election is subsiding. 

Yours truly, Matt. H. Carpenter. 

Accompanying the bland little note was a bound copy of 
Carpenter's speech before the electoral commission. A 
daintier packet of keener sarcasm was never more graciously 
and courteously sent. 



l^i LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

MISCELLANEOUS CAUSES. 

One of the suits that occupied Carpenter's attention during 
a series of years was that of Hasbrouck against the city of 
Milwaukee for about a quarter of a million dollars on a 
dredging contract. It was begun in 1859 and not settled 
until after the close of the Rebellion. 

A case of considerable importance, in which his theories 
were fully confirmed and adopted by the court, was that of 
John Druecker vs. Edward Salomon. The democrats of 
Ozaukee county, in Wisconsin, resisted the draft of 1862. 
They not only drove out W. A. Pors, the draft commis- 
sioner, but indulged in riot and bloodshed. Upon orders 
from Washington, Gov. Salomon sent troops to quell the riot 
and arrest the rioters. Druecker, a leader, was one of those 
arrested and thrown into prison. Subsequently he brought 
suit against the governor for false imprisonment, and Car- 
penter conducted the defense. The case was tried before 
Judge Arthur MacArthur, who, in an opinion of some length, 
in consonance with Carpenter's argument, gave judgment 
against the rioter. It was the first case of the kind ever 
brought to final judgment in this country, and Carpenter 
was therefore a pioneer in searching out and setting forth 
the principles governing in such matters. 

MILITARY AND MARTIAL LAWS. 

In April, 1865, Carpenter wrote an opinion for Brig.-Gen. 
T. C. H. Smith on " martial law." It was somewhat elaborate, 
and set forth with indefective clearness the wide difference 
between martial and military laws, which is not under- 
stood, on the average, by more than one lawyer in ten. It 
covered the ground so completely, and so plainly defined the 
duties of provost-marshals and executors of martial law, that 



MYRA BRADWELL,. 1 33 

it was published in pamphlet form and circulated through 
the south for the enlightenment and guidance of those in 
command of military districts in the lately rebellious states, 
and for the benefit of courts and commissions organized or 
acting under them. It passed as standard authority during 
the early periods of reconstruction, and was pronounced one 
of the clearest and ablest expositions of the constitution and 
the laws concerning those subjects ever giyen to the public. 

MYRA BRADWELL. 

A case that attracted great attention during its pendency, 
being the first of its kind taken to the United States supreme 
court after the adoption of the fourteenth amendment, was 
that of Myra Bradwell, plaintiff in error, vs. The State of 
Blinois. The supreme court of that state had refused her 
admission to practice at its bar, upon the ground that her 
clients could not enforce any contracts made with her as a 
married woman. Carpenter took the case for review on a 
writ of error to the United States supreme court, and argued 
it before that tribunal at the December term, 1871.' He 
held that it was not a question of taste, propriety or polite- 
ness, but of civil right. The argument that clients could not 
enforce contracts with Mrs. Bradwell, because she was a 
married woman, he declared was frivolous, as every attor- 
ney, being an officer of the court, can be, for unprofessional 
conduct or malpractice, fined, imprisoned, or disbarred, or 
visited with all three of these punishments. He thus carried 
his argument: 

If the legislature may, under pretense of fixing qualifications, declare that 
no female citizen shall be permitted to practice law, they may as well de- 
clare that no colored citizen shall practice law. It should be borne in mind 
that the only provision in the constitution which secures to colored citizens 
admission to the bar, or pursuit of other ordinary avocations of life, is that 
" No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges 
or immunities of a citizen." If this provision does not open the profes- 
sions, all the avocations, all the methods by which a man may pursue hap- 

1 16 Wallace, p. 130. 



134 "^^^^ ^^ CARPENTER. 

piness, to the colored as well as the white, then the legislatures of the states 
may exclude colored men from all the honorable pursuits of life, and com- 
pel them to support their existence in a condition of servitude. And if this 
provision does protect the colored citizen, then it protects every citizen, 
black or white, male or female. * * * While a legislature may pre- 
scribe qualifications for entering upon this pursuit of the law, it can 
not, under the guise of fixing qualifications, exclude a class of citizens from 
admission to the bar. The legislature may say at what age candidates shall 
be admitted — may elevate or depress the standard of learning; but a qual- 
ification to which a whole class of citizens can never attain is not a regula- 
tion of admission, but it is, as to such citizens, prohibition. * * * I 
maintain that the fourteenth amendment opens to every citizen of the 
United States, male or female, black or white, married or single, the honor- 
able professions, as well as the servile employments of life; and that no 
citizen can be excluded from any one of them. The broad shield ot the 
constitution is over them all, and protects each in that measure of success 
which his or her individual merits may secure. 

The court, by Justice Miller, held that " No provision of 
the federal constitution had been violated by the refusal of 
the court of Illinois to admit Mrs. Brad well; that the right 
to practice law is not a privilege or immunity of a citizen of 
the United States, within the meaning of the fourteenth 
amendment of the constitution; and that the power of a state 
to prescribe qualifications for admission to the bar of its 
courts is unaffected by that amendment." 

Jt will be observed that Carpenter admitted the right to 
prescribe qualifications, but denied the power to prohibit, for 
extraneous reasons, persons who possessed those prescribed 
qualifications. Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase dissented from 
the opinion and the judgment of the court, believing Car- 
penter's position to be right. 

THE SLAUGHTER-HOUSE CASES. 

: There is no exercise of human authority, in despotic or 
republican countries, so far-reaching and so almighty as that 
of the police power of states and municipal corporations. In 
the very nature of things it must be more or less undefined 
and almost absolutely unlimited. Under it the health, safety, 
morality and good order of communities are secured. This 



THE SLAUGHTER-HOUSE CASES. T35 

was well set forth in the noted " slaughter-house cases " of 
New Orleans. 

In 1869 the legislature of Louisiana passed an act incor- 
porating the " Crescent City Live Stock Landing and 
Slaughter-house Company," with exclusive privilege to main- 
tain, for twenty-five years, yards, landings and slaughter- 
houses, in a particular place and no other. The law provided 
that no cattle or food animals should be landed or slaughtered 
in New Orleans except in the Crescent City Company's ab- 
attoir. This compelled all slaughtering, for a certain reason- 
able fee, to be done on the compan3^'s premises, and against 
it the butchers demurred. Several of them jomed their 
strength and engaged John A. Campbell, the ablest attorney 
in the south, and others to bring a suit for the destruction of 
the " monopoly," as they termed it. The supreme court of 
Louisiana decided against the butchers and in favor of the 
validity of the law. An appeal was taken to the United 
States supreme court by writ of error, and Carpenter was 
engaged as principal counsel for the state of Louisiana and 
the Crescent City Company, assisted by Jeremiah S. Black 
and J. T. Durant. 

He argued that the act creating the slaughter-house cor- 
poration was not a violation of the thirteenth or fourteenth 
amendment, as had been set forth by appellants, and that the 
granting of exclusive privileges to a few, properly guarded, 
when clearly, as in this case, it was for the health, life and 
comfort of a great community, was a police regulation 
within the power of state legislatures and beyond the reach 
of the amendments of the constitution. The matter was the 
most important of that kind that had reached the supreme 
court, the attorneys on each side were the ablest in the Union, 
and the argument was literally a battle of giants. The court, 
by Justice Miller, in April, 1872, affirmed the decision of the 
state court, and Carpenter was victorious.^ His conduct in this 

' At the conclusion of the case Carpenter sent to New Orleans the now 
noted telegram : "The banded butchers are busted. Matt." 



136 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

case gave him strong prestige in the south, and subsequently 
several very important professional engagements from that 
section. 

THE WHISKY CASES. 

In 1875 the business of illicit distilling had grown to such 
enormous proportions that all the knavery of dishonest sub- 
ordinates in the federal service could no longer hide its exist- 
ence from the government. Secretary B. H. Bristow at once 
organized a strong system of prosecution, stiffened and sup- 
ported by President Grant's famous epigram, "Let no 
guilty man escape," and caused numerous arrests of the 
wealthiest men in several communities in Wisconsin, Illinois 
and Missouri. In Wisconsin the illicit distillers were congre- 
gated in Milwaukee, and Carpenter was engaged to defend 
them. This he did with indomitable pertinacity, making in 
December, 1875, in the case recorded in the reports as the 
" United States vs. Three Tons of Coal," his great argument 
maintaininef the sacredness from search of the books, docu- 
ments, accounts and private papers of any citizen engaged 
in business. The court did not, in the case of distillers, who 
are subject to public espionage and control, sustain his prop- 
ositions, and ordered the books, accounts and papers of his 
client to be produced. It was during the trial of one of 
these cases that Carpenter attempted to " pass by " Judge 
Drummond, figuratively speaking, for the purpose oi enlight- 
ening, instructing and mellowing the jury. The judge at 
once called his attention to the fact that it was the province 
of no one but the court to instruct the jury. As this pro- 
ceeding was slightly outside of the prescribed path, some of 
Carpenter's iriends asked him why he undertook what 
might have entailed a fine for contempt of court. He re- 
plied: "All the law was against me, public opinion was 
against me, the press was against me, the court was against 
me, my clients were as guilty as Cain, so what could I do? 
My only possible chance was to get by the judge and at the 
jury." 



THE LOUISIANA LOTTERY. 137 

THE LOUISIANA LOTTERY. 

On November 13, 1879, Postmaster-General D. M. Key- 
issued an order to the postmaster at New Orleans forbidding 
the payment of any postal money order addressed to M. A. 
Dauphin, for the reason that he was " conducting the Louis- 
iana State Lottery, a scheme for obtaining money under 
fraudulent pretenses." Carpenter was engaged by Dauphin 
to discover what relief the law would afford him. The case 
was argued at length before the supreme court of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia upon the novel prayer for an injunction 
to restrain the order from remaining in force. He held 
that the statute under which the postmaster-general acted 
was unconstitutional, because it vested judicial powers in 
that official; that therefore the order forbidding Dauphin the 
privileges of the mails was void, and that it is always 
the duty of the judicial branch of government to restrain 
the unlawful or unjust acts of ministerial officers. 

His brief was very interesting. It showed how a court 
could not hesitate because the relief asked was against a 
cabinet officer, as courts theretofore had commanded Presi- 
dent Jefferson to appear and produce a certain letter at the 
trial of Aaron Burr, and Grant, while President, had been 
called thousands of miles to testify in petty cases, and both 
had obeyed. 

The order withheld from Dauphin all registered letters, 
whether a part of his lottery business or not. This, Car- 
penter declared, was partial disfranchisement — punishment 
without trial b}-- a person not vested with judicial powers. 
In concluding, he thus pictured the duties of a court, no 
matter how high and mighty the person to fall under its 
judgment: 

If we convince you that these acts of congress are unconstitutional, you 
can not shrink from so declaring without violating your consciences and 
disgracing your office. There may well be a nation without a king; per- 
haps a church without a bishop; but the liberties of our people will be 
gone should we have courts without judges. Courts, like corporations, 



138 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

have neither " bodies to be kicked," nor " souls to be damned." Judges have 
both, and are amenable to the just ciiticisms of men, and for corrupt judg- 
ment answerable at the bar of Divine justice. 

Carpenter secured relief for his client, whether justly or 
not is not in question, which continued until the middle of 
1883, when Postmaster-General Gresham renewed the order. 

MRS. STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 

The boldness of Carpenter in pointing out to courts the 
wickedness of permitting or becoming a party to injustice 
through rigid adherence to mere technicalities of laws or 
contracts, constituted one of his noblest characteristics as a 
lawyer. There were few judges that had the hardihood to 
follow the zigzag path of technicalities while he practiced 
before them, as he never failed in such instances to torture 
their consciences. 

When he learned that the widow of his idolized friend, 
Stephen A. Douglas, was compelled to seek relief in court 
against the strange business management of her husband's 
adviser, executor and supposed friend, he hastened to offer 
his professional services in rescuing her from injustice. He 
appeared for her on appeal before the supreme court of Illi- 
nois. In the widow's suit for an accounting of her husband's 
estate and for one-half of the unsold lands, the court below 
denied her prayer, alleging that she had been " guilty of 
laches, legal remissness, in not suing at an earlier day." In 
common parlance it may be stated that the executor of the 
Douglas estate pleaded that Mrs. Douglas had so long neg- 
lected to sue him that her property had now become his 
own, and the court below sustained this plea. Carpenter's 
brief was long, weighted with authorities, and, in its prayer 
for relief, extremely eloquent. In connection with a subject 
so noteworthy, a few lines may be quoted: 

The complainant was a woman ; in social life a queen, indeed, but still a 
woman. She loved iier husband as all good wives do; but added to this 
was her knowledge that a nation followed Senator Douglas to admire him. 



THE NORTH-WESTERN UNIVERSITY. 1 39 

Under these circumstances, could she doubt his wisdom, his power to read 
the characters of men, his capacity for selecting true friends for their ster- 
ling worth? Rhodes had been her husband's confidant and "familiar." In 
those dreadful hours which preceded his final dissolution, when the dying 
rise to the supremacy of prophets, her husband. Senator Douglas, the trib- 
une of millions of the people, had exhorted her, soon to become a lone 
woman, to trust in Rhodes; to take his advice, yield to his counsel, and 
look to him as her sure and best friend. 

His final warning to the court was thus: 

If a widow, thus cheated and defrauded by one in whom her confidence 
IS centered, one whom she regards as a father, one in whose honor her 
dying husband has commanded her to repose confidence, can have no relief 
from fraud such as this case discloses, the benefit of a court of chancery is 
not very apparent. 

THE NORTH-WESTERN UNIVERSITY. 

One of Carpenter's important briefs, in which his reason- 
ing and conclusions became those of the court in its decision, 
was that of the North-western University vs. The People of 
Illinois. In 185 1 the state of Illinois incorporated the North- 
western University at Evanston. In 1855 the charter of in- 
corporation was amended so '•''That all ^ro^erty., of -whatever 
kind or description^ belonging to or owned by said corporation^ 
sliall be forever free from taxation for any and all f>Hrf)osesP 
This amendment was accepted by the association, and about 
$200,000, by reason of the tax-exemption, was donated to the 
institution. In 1870 the state made a new constitution. The 
constitution of 1848 provided: "The property of the state 
and counties, both real and personal, and such other property 
as the general assembly may deem necessary for school^ relig- 
ious and charitable -purposes, niay be exempt from taxation." 
The new constitution limited the exemptions to real and per- 
sonal property " used exclusively " for such purposed. This 
cut off real and other property whose proceeds, instead of 
the property itself, were used for school purposes. 

The state authorities, under the new constitution, levied a 
tax on the university property and went into court to enforce 



140 LIIE OI' CARPENTER. 

it. The court held the levy valid, and directed the sale of 
the university in satisfaction of it. Carpenter appealed to 
the United States supreme court, and there contended that, 
inasmuch as the legislature, under the old constitution, had 
ample power to exempt the property of the university, its 
action was valid; and as large donations were made by rea- 
son of the said exemption, that proviso became a part of the 
contract, and the new constitution and law destroying it, 
" impaired the obligation " of the contract, contrary to the 
federal constitution, and was for that reason void. The court 
so held. 

GREAT CASES. 

Thus cases, important as to principles, and interesting, if 
not to the general public, certainly to lawyers — the most 
learned of the larger classes of professional men — might be 
mentioned into the thousands. They embrace every con- 
ceivable branch of litigation, test all the great principles of 
constitutions, statutes and common law, and involve property 
interests and rights of incalculable value. To make simply 
an index to them would require a volume, for Carpenter's 
practice in the various courts of Washington and the Union, 
for many years, was of enormous proportions. He had nu- 
merous cases for the New York Life Insurance Company; 
was the attorney for the heirs of Charles Bent to secure their 
one-fourth interest in the great Maxwell grant from the 
Spanish government; for William McGarrahan, in his noted 
claim against the New Idra Mining Company; for Pierre 
Frayolle, in his suits against the Texas & Pacific Railway; 
for J. F. Schuette, against the Florida Central Railway (in 
which an attempt was made to defeat him by imposing a 
rotten bond on Justice Bradley); for Hallett's heirs (with J. 
B. Stewart), against the Kansas Pacific Railway, for about 
$25,000,000; for the French heirs in the Jumel will case; 
for the Jackson, Shreveport & Texas Railway, against 
Oakes Ames; for various army and navy attaches^ where 



GREAT CASES. I4I 

military or martial laws were to be expounded or tested ; for 
the great Amory estate in New York; and he also had suits 
against the cities of Milwaukee, Leavenworth, Kenosha, St. 
Joseph and Beloit, and against numerous railway corpora- 
tions, in addition to almost numberless claims before the de- 
partments at Washington and the committees of congress. 
No man ever had a more varied and distinguished prac- 
tice. 



142 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XV. 

A BATTLE WITH CORPORATIONS. 

For some years the stupendous growth of corporations, 
under the peculiar American system of granting charters, has 
attracted the attention of the wisest political economists, leg- 
islators and jurists. It was a subject of weight that did not 
escape Carpenter's early attention, either as a lawyer, law- 
maker, or statesman. That he was a pioneer in that limitless 
domain of difficulties and intricacies, not so much for as 
against corporations, must already have become clear. 

His views as to the foundation principles governing the 
formation and control of railway corporations and common 
carriers were, at first, and for some years, antagonistic to the 
decisions of the courts. They were in favor of the people, 
and therefore enlisted the powerful hostility of the corpora- 
tions. They constitute an important part of his doings and 
sayings in public, and will be regarded with greater wonder 
and admiration as time reveals and confirms their wisdom. 
He was one of the earliest and most reviled of prophets, op- 
posed by courts, corporations and attorne3-s, but, after all, the 
only one of distinction whose prophecies came to pass. 

Although engaged in a maze of railway litigation that 
puzzled and confounded courts, receivers, railway owners, 
bondsmen, managers and opposition attorneys, Carpenter 
made no formal avowal of his tenets in regard to the relations 
subsisting, or that of right should subsist, betwixt the corpo- 
rations and the people, until the year of his election to the 
United Slates senate. In so far as the causes litigant brought 
them out in his professional briefs and arguments, his views 
must have been more or less publicly known,' for the officers 

1 At a large Fourth of Julv celebration at Milwaukee, in 1S65, Carpenter 
(with Carl Schurz and Alex. W. Randall) was the orator of the day. In 
the course of his remarks, he said: "The war is over, and the question of 



A BATTLE WITH CORPORATIONS. I43 

of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Association invited him to 
address the people at their annual exhibit in September of 
that year, at Madison, upon " The Growth of Monopoly in 
the Carrying Trade." 

The invitation was accepted, and a throng of people was 
drawn to the Capital City to hear him upon a matter which, 
under the fostering care of certain tribunals, land-grants and 
legislatures, had arrived at a period of alarming importance. 
There had been an extra session of congress, his professional 
engagements were numerous and exacting, but he hewed 
out of the crowded days and nights time enough to commit 
his words to paper. His biographer bears testimony, in 
sorrow, that Carpenter rarely had his public addresses in 
any manner perpetuated on paper; and Carpenter himself, on 
the occasion now mentioned, confirmed this affirmation by 
opening the speech with the remark that, " Wishing to say 
exactly what he meant, he had committed his words to writ- 
ing; and never having done such a thing before, he should 
not, probably, be able to read half of them, which would be 
entirely in their favor." 

The supreme court of Wisconsin had just decided that 
railways were private property (not, therefore, subject to the 
control of the legislature) and that any tax levied in aid of 
them was, for that reason, unconstitutional and void. In plain 
terms, this decision meant that the aggressions, discrimina- 
tions and extortions of the railways were beyond redress. In 
Iowa a similar decision had been made, and while the rail- 
way corporations were becoming insolent and aggressive, the 
public mind, as a natural consequence, grew not only restless 
and anxious, but lost some faith in the justness of courts. 

Under such a condition of affairs and of the public temper, 
Carpenter pronounced his plan of salvation for the produc- 
ing classes — the masses. After setting forth, in figures 

Nea^ro suffrage will soon be disposed of; then the next great struggle will 
be betwixt the people and the corporations. I fear it will be upon us before 
we shall be prepared to fight it." Than this the records show no earlier 
prediction. 



144 LI^E OF CARPENTER. 

drawn from official sources, the magnitude of the mternal 
commerce of the countr}-, in order to show the importance 
of the subject deputed to him for elucidation, he proceeded: 

It was for many years believed by our wisest and purest statesmen that 
our institutions were in danger from slavery. But it is my honest belief, 
that they are to-day in far greater danger from the combinations of capital, 
the consolidations of monopolies — the great trinity of power, railroad, 
express and telegraph companies, which are struggling to control the des- 
tinies of this country — than they ever were from slavery. Slavery was 
spread over a vast territory ; it could only act through political agencies ; so 
that its plottings and proceedings were seen of all men. It was a sm so 
damning and a curse so heavj' that the moral sentiments of the people and 
the sympathies of the world were against it — against it altogether and 
under all circumstances, in detail and in general. It was circumscribed by 
geographic limits, and the numerical majority of our people, who watched 
it with jealousy and hatred, always had the fo-Mci\ if not the technical con- 
stitutional rights to suppress it at any time; and it was always certain that 
whenever it should openly assail the existence of free institutions, the peo- 
ple, who believe that constitutions are made for men and not that men are 
made for constitutions, would find a way to put it down. And so it finally 
was extinguished. 

But railroad, express and telegraph companies, under proper regulations 
and within wholesome restrictions, are not only harmless but absolutely a 
necessity of our modern civilization. They may proudly and truthfully 
point to the immense service they have rendered to the people in facilitat- 
ing coinmerce and bringing the comforts of life to every man's door. 
The dangers to the public arise not from the use, but from the abuse 
of the powers which have been granted to these corporations. Un- 
mixed evil is alwavs condemned and avoided, and is therefore harmless. 
It is evil that comes in shining raiment, with seductive manner, with much 
that is really pleasant and good, that wins its destructive way into the par- 
adise of popular approbation. There is no conflict between labor and the 
legitimate profits of capital. Each is necessary to the other. But the 
great passion in this countrv is the love of wealth. And as life is short 
and every man impatient of results, the great tendency is the consolida- 
tion of agencies to accomplish vast results speedily. So that, whenever 
competition begins, consolidation results. A short time since the Mer- 
chants' Express Company was organized with an immense capital, in the 
interests of the people, as it was said, to break down the monopoly of the 
then existing company. Competition went on imtil both coinpanies came 
to the not unnatural conc;usion, that it would be more profitable to unite 
and plunder the people for their joint benefit, than it was to carry merchan. 
disc for too low a rate to amount to compensation. So they consolidated, 



A BATTLE WITH CORPORATIONS. I45 

and now have everything their own way. Various telegraph companies have 
passed through the same experience and reached the same result. Railroad 
companies, not behind in the wisdom of this generation, are now bending 
all their energies to a consolidation which shall prevent competition, and 
deliver the people bound hand and foot into their tender keeping. For all 
practical purposes we have but one telegraph company in the United 
States, and but one express company. If nothing is done to check the 
present tendencies, it will not be long until we have but one railroad com- 
pany in the United States, and then it is by no means improbable that 
three monster monopolies may, " in order to form a more perfect union, 
insure domestic tranquillity^'' provide for their "common defense" and pro- 
mote their "gen -ral welfare," "ordain and establish a constitution," which 
shall combine all three in one, and it will be owing to the mercy of 
Heaven or the vigilance of our people, if they do not so far extend their 
schemes as to orduin a constitution for the people 0^ the United States. 

This ieari'ul consolidation tends to withdraw corporate action from public 
observation. Slave-holders could not plot in secret; but to execute their 
^chemes they had to publish their platforms and ^^ go to the country" for a 
trial. The people were thus inibrmed of what was intended, and it was 
their own fault if they did not take care of themselves. But the railroads, 
express and telegraph corporations of the United States, embracing untold 
millions of capital, reaching into every state, territory, county, town, vil- 
lage and farm of the country, may all be managed by a board of fifteen di- 
rectors, sitting with closed doors, by candle-light, in Wall street. What 
they determine upon they need not submit to public examination nor to the 
contingency of a general election by the people, and thus a power more for- 
midable than the powers of this gigantic national government, because more 
closely touchmg the rights and pockets of the people, will come to be ex- 
ercised by a few men whose interests in all things are directly opposed to 
the interests of the people, without the consent or even the knowledge of 
the people. The power of such an organization upon our popular elections, 
with their paid agents in every school-district, the immense number of their 
employes and officers, men of influence and intelligence, all capable of be- 
ing directed b}' telegraphic communication by a central head in Wall street, 
and the immense capital capable of being poured out secretly at any point, 
their power to build up or destroy towns and cities by discriminating tariffs, 
and to create or destroy the fortunes of individuals, can not be overest'- 
mated. 

But some good easy soul, who never smarts until he is hit, may think 
this is trembling at ima.;inary evils, or rallying to combat shadows. I hope 
80. But certainly it is wiser to apprehend a little too much danger and 
guard against it than to apprehend too little and be destroyed by it; and any 
candid man who looks back fifty years and considers from what feeble be- 
ginnings these tremendous monopolies have attained tlieir present power 
10 



146 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

and greatness, may see reason to fear that they will still farther advance 
their views and their consummations. 

Railroad companies first sought franchises from the state upon the ground 
that railways were public highways, and as such under the control of the 
legislative power as any other highway. It was upon this ground, and this 
only, that the courts upheld the exercise of the right of eminent domain in 
favor of railroad companies, which enabled them, as agents of the state, to 
take any man's land for the use of the roads in face of a constitution which 
forbids the taking of private property, except for a public use. The theory 
upon which the roads were originally constructed is changing; and the 
supreme court of Wisconsin ' and the supreme court of Iowa, two most 
intelligent and upright courts, recently decided that a railroad company is 
a mere private corporation, and that the legislature has no more power over 
its property or affairs than it has over those of a bank, a manufacturing 
company, or over a grist-mill. 

In a single sentence, spoken by the supreme court, the state of Iowa has 
abdicated its sovereignty over the great highways of the state, and trans- 
formed them from trust property, held by the corporations for public use, 
into absolute estate in individual and private right. This declaration is not 
less important and startling than the Dred Scott decision, and exhibits the 
dangerous tendencies I have been considering. 

It is evident that if the doctrine be conceded that our railroads are mere 
private property and legislatures powerless to control them, the grossest 
abuses and oppressions will follow. Most civilized countries regulate the 
rate of interest by penal laws, visiting severe penalties upon the capitalist 
who takes advantage of the necessities of the borrower. But there is in- 
finitely more need of legislation here. Loaning money is a thing within 
the powjr of any private citizen having money; he needs and obtains no 
legislative francJliise, or monopoly of the loaning business. Competition is 
therefore certain to exist; and this, of itself, is thought by many to be a suf- 
ficient protection against the extortion of lenders. But how does it stand 
with capital invested in railroads.' In the first place, the company has a 
monopoly. The state has clothed it with corporate power and immunities. 
The farmer must export his produce over the railroad, because t/ierc is but 
one. Every man does not own a railroad; every man could not operate it, 
exacting tolls from the public, if he did own one. That reqinres legislative 
sanction. But the new doctrine now contended for, that a railroad is pri- 
vate and not public property, strikes a death-blow at all legislative control, 
and leaves the people at the mercy of our corporations, so far as the state 
government is concerned. The state can control the management of public 
property, but has no right to control the use of mere private property. 

'In Whiting vs. Fond du Lac County, the case referred to, the decision 
of the state court was reversed by the supreme court of the United States 
shortly after the delivery of this speech. 



A BATTLE WITH CORPORATIONS. I47 

If the state of things now existing is an evil, and the tendency is to an 
aggravation of that evil, it is interesting to consider whether any, and what, 
remedy can be invoked. 

It is evident that a corporation which owns a railroad through a hah- 
dozen states can not be controlled by any one state, and if every state 
should enter upon the task, it is certain that each would have a theory of 
its own, and nothing but confusion would result. A regulation to be of 
any avail must be uniform; there can be no uniformity wliere thirty sover- 
eignties are uttering their voices and enforcing their wills upon the same 
subject. This consideration led to the adoption, in the constitution of the 
^United States, of the provision that congress should have power " to regu- 
late commerce with foreign nations, and among tlie several states, and with 
the Indian tribes," 

Congress may at any time regulate the running of trains, fix the tariff of 
rates, and in every respect regulate and control the proceedings ol any 
railroad company in regard to such commerce. A company whose road 
is situated wholly within the limits of a particular state, as to all produce 
which is destined for a distant state, is also engaged in commerce among 
the states. And even those cases, where the charter of the company 
amounts to a contract which would prevent the interference of a state, are 
nevertheless within the power of congress ; because no state can exonerate 
any person or corporation from the duty of obedience to all constitutional 
regulat.ons of commerce by the general governtnent. Therelore, the rail- 
roads of Iowa and Wisconsin, although wholly exempt, b}' recent decisions, 
from state control, may nevertheless be kept within just limits by the exer- 
cise of congressional authority. 

The power to regulate commerce includes the power to facilitate com- 
merce; if not, then every light-house on the Atlantic coast is shedding an 
unconstitutional light upon the midnight mariner. It is impos.-sible, I 
think, to distinguish between the power of congress, under the constitu- 
tion, to build a light-house, and its power to build a canal or a railroad. 
The practical construction which the constitution has received is that con. 
gress may legislate in aid of commerce. It may build harbors, improve 
lakes or rivers, and do whatever else may render commerce easy, safe and 
profitable. 

Suppose the government should build a railroad with two or four tracks 
from Chicago to New York, and throw it open to public use, under certain 
regulations, and at certain rates of toll to be paid by any person running a 
tram upon the road. It would thus be in the power of the government to 
regulate the can-ying business, which is so important an element in domes- 
tic commerce, so as fully to protect the people. The power to do this is 
unquestionable. If any man doubts the power as a regulation of com- 
merce, there is no doubt of the power of congress to build a military roady 



I.|8 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

with four iron tracks, from Cliicago to New York; and when not actually 
required for the transshipment of troops or military supplies, to authorize its 
use at certain rates of toll by private individuals. Our navy is employed 
not only in protecting our foreign commerce, but in succoring merchant 
vessels in distress; and no doubt might be employed, when not needed for 
nat onal defense, in any way to promote national prosperity. But, conced- 
ing the power, it will be said there are many objections to be urged against 
it. Undoubtedly; but the question is, whether there are more blessings to 
be expected than dangers to be apprehended. 

(i) It may be said that it would increase the patronage of the general 
government, which is already very great. Admit it; would not the same 
reasoning abolish the postofHce department.^ Oh, says the objector, the 
postofTice is a necessity. Precisely ; and the question is, whether the rail- 
road, also, will not soon become a necessity. 

(2) It may be said that the e.\pense of such a work would be much 
greater if executed by the government than by private individuals. This I 
do not admit; nor do I believe it. 

(3) It will also be said that the government is already burthened with a 
heavy debt; that it would be madness to enter into so gigantic a scheme of 
internal improvement, in our present condition. 

This depends upon a mere question of prolit and loss in regard to the 
particular transaction. If a farmer, who was heavily in debt, should, for 
that reason, fold his hands in the spring, and refuse to buy seed-wheat on 
credit, and so let his farm go to waste, his wisdom would not be approved. 
If he buys wheat and corn to sow and plant, if he employs laborers, and 
buys oxen and horses to carry on his farm, he will temporarily increase his 
indebtedness; but in no other way can he realize the rich crops of autumn, 
which may not only repay the expense of the year, but go far towards 
liquidating his mdebtedness. 

So, if the governinent could build a railroad from Chicago to New York 
in three years, upon which it should levy such tolls as would have the 
effect to reduce the cost of transporting merchandise one-half, and still pay 
for its own construction in twenty years, after which the tolls could be still 
farther reduced, down to the actual cost of keeping the road in repair, then 
it would not be an extravagance but an act of prudence to do it; because 
the government would by this proceeding lose nothing, and the people 
would be greatly enriched. 

Congress has heretofore granted aid to railroad companies in the form 
of grants of land and bonds. The government gets nothing back for the 
lands granted, and the p ople get no bL-ncfit, if the companies are to band 
together to plunder the commerce of the country. As a mere investment, 
it would be better for the government to build and hold a railroad until it 
should be re-imbursed for its construction, and in the same time save the 



ENEMIES APPEAR. 1 49 

people as much more, than to grant to irresponsible parties land or money, 
from which no adequate return will be realized either by the government 
or the people. 

I have made these remarks, simply, if I could, to direct the public mind 
to a consideration of a matter worthy of their thought, which will, I believe, 
before many years grow to great practical importance. 

Many then thought Carpenter's picture of coming con- 
solidation and consequent destruction of competition in 
the telegraph, express and railway business was overdrawn 
and groundless; but recent events have amply proved that 
his vision of the future was correct. Although several tele- 
graph companies have been organized since then, ostensibly 
to build lines " for the people," all of them have been swal- 
lowed up by the great telegraph octopus. He predicted that 
if the manifest tendencies of 1869 to consolidate were not 
checked, it would not be many years before there would be 
but one railroad in the United States. The present "pool- 
ing " arrangements, by which competition is throttled and 
the vast earnings of the railways are arbitrarily divided 
among the corporations belonging in the pool, is a practical if 
not a literal fulfillment of that prophecy. 

ENEMIES APPEAR. 

The address had hardly been spread before the public 
when John R. Bennett and I. C. Sloan, two very able law- 
yers, attacked its doctrines through the columns of the news- 
papers. On the nth of October Carpenter replied, boldly 
taking ground contrary to the decisions of the supreme court 
not only of his own but of other states. He argued: 

Now, a railroad is either a highway held by a corporation in trust for the 
public use, or it is mere private property owned by the stockholders in ab- 
solute right. One of these theories must be true; and whichever is held 
to be true, it will follow that the other is untrue. 

(i) If it be a highway, then the legislature can authorize a county or 
town, in its discretion, to aid in its construction, and raise money by taxa- 
tion for that purpose; because the money raised for that is raised for a pub- 
lic purpose. And it also follows that as a highway it may be controlled 
and regulated by the legislature. 



150 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

(2) If it be not a public highway, then the public have no control over 
it. VVhen it is held to be private property, it follows that the legislature 
have no more right to control it than they have to control the use of any 
other private property. 

If it be public property — a highway — one class of consequences fol- 
lows; if it be not a common highway, these consequences do not follow. 
Therefore, when the court solemnly decides to which category a railroad 
belongs, they do in effect determine what class of consequences is to follow 
in regard to such property. So the court evidently considered it. The 
particular question was: Can the legislature authorize a county to aid in the 
construction of a railroad by taxation? But to answer this question it was 
necessary for the court to determine the question upon which it depended, 
viz.: Is a railroad a public highway, or is it mere private property.-' This 
the court detei mined agamst the theory that a railroad is a public highway 
in the following unambiguous language: 

"The road, with all its rolling-stock, buildings, fixtures and other proj)- 
erty pertaining to it, \?. private property^ owned, operated and used by the 
company for the exclusive benefit ami advantage of its stockholders." ' 

Having settled this, then of course the court could answer the other 
question in only one way, viz. : that taxation in aid of such road was tax. 
ation for a private, not for a public purpose, and was therefore unconstitu- 
tional. 

Now, suppose that next winter our legislature should pass a law fixing 
a tariff of rates for a railroad. The company would contest the constitu- 
tionality of the law. A case involving this question would come to the 
supreme court. Here the precise question would be. Can the legislature pass 
a liiTJ n-fruldtinn- tariff of rates on a railroad? But, as in the other case, 
this question would depend upon the question : Is a railroad a public high- 
way, or is it mere private property? And the court would be compelled 
to sav, "We settled this question in Whiting vs. Fond du Lac County. A 
railroad is mere private property." Therefore the court would be com- 

■ In the case of Whiting ^5. Fond du Lac County, in which the plaintiff 
enjoined the county from paying county orders voted by the people in aid 
of the construction of the Sheboygan & Fond du Lac Railway, and in 
which this opinion of the supreme court of Wisconsin was entered, Car- 
penter was the attorney for the defendant county. On the motion for a 
re-hearing of the case he said: 

"The sok- question at present involved is this: Has the legislature the 
constitutional finvcr to authorize a county or town to raise money by taxa- 
tion to contribute toward tht- building of a railroad in or tiirough the local- 
ity.' Tlii>; court says no. 

" Had this question been answered in the negative fifty years ago, not a 
railroad would ever have been completed in the United States." The court 
continued to say " no," but its judgment was reversed by Carpenter in the 
case of Oicott vs. Fond du Lac, in the United Stales supreme court. 



A TEST CASE. I5I 

pelled to answer the precise question, can the legislature regulate a tariff' of 
rates, in the negative. To suppose that our supreme court will decide that 
railroads are mere private property in order to exclude the power of taxa- 
tion, and in the next case declare them to be public highways in order to 
uphold the constitutionality of a tariff of rates, is to suppose that the court 
will treat adjudicated cases and the rules of logic " with an impartial con- 
tempt," But in the opinion in the Whiting case, our court gave their 
unqualified approval to a case in Iowa, where the court followed this doc- 
trine to its logical result, in the following language: 

" It is to be remembered, also, that railway corporations are not organized 
for the purpose of developing the material prosperity of the state — this is 
a mere incident of the business they prosecute. But they are organized 
solely to make money for their stockholders, and the legislature has no 
more fovuer over their property and rights than it has over the like property 
and rights oj natural persons or other private corporations!'^ 

Therefore this language of the supreme court of Iowa was adopted and 
indorsed by our court. It is a necessary result of the principle that rail- 
roads are private property and not public highways. 

There are certain things so intimately, so necessarily connected, that one 
can not exist without the other. If you want sunshine you must have a 
clear day; if you ^vill not have a clear day you can not have sunshine. I^ 
you will uphold the right of the legislature to fix a tariff' ol rates, you must 
hold railroads to be public highways; and if they are such, the power o. 
taxation may be exercised. Everything in this world has its advantages 
and disadvantages. But if you will have the thing, yon must endure all its 
consequences. 

The power of taxation, exercised by the representatives of the people, 
and coiifinned, as ia this case, by a vote of the feople to be taxcd^ can not be 
abused, unless we admit that the people can neither trust their representa- 
tives nor judge themselves of their own interests. Such an admissiorn 
would overturn all free governmeat. We may therefore safely say rail- 
roads are public highways, taxation may be exercised to aid them // the 
people are ivilling to tax themselves for such purpose; and the legislature 
shall at a'l times have the po%ver to- control the operations of the roads 
and fix the tariff" of rates. 

A TEST CASE. 

In settling the principles and composing the public mind 
with reference to legislative power over railways, the case 
of Olcott vs. The Supervisors of Fond du Lac County was 
all-important. The county had voted to aid in the construc- 
tion of the Sheboygan & Fond du Lac Railway, and in 
pursuance thereof issued county orders as the work of con- 



152 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

struction progressed. One Whiting procured an injunction 
against the county, forbidding the payment of the orders. 
The supreme court of the state, upon appeal, decided that 
the act authorizing the taxation was unconstitutional, and 
the taxation itself void. 

Subsequently Horatio J. Olcott, by Carpenter as his at- 
torney, brought suit in the United States district court of 
Wisconsin to recover on county orders of which he was 
an innocent and bona fide holder. The district court, follow- 
ing the decision of the state court in the Whiting case, gave 
an adverse decision. Carpenter, upon a writ of error, went 
with the cause to the United State supreme court. He there 
contended that the decision of the state court (that railroads 
were mere private property, and that, therefore, a tax in aid 
of their construction was unconstitutional and void) was an 
erroneous judgment. His brief, which consisted of nearly 
seventy pages of printed matter, was not an ordinary document 
in either ability or exhaustive research. He pointed out with 
some emphasis what injustice suitors in the federal courts 
would sutler if those courts were to do as had been done in 
this case, viz.: follow the decision of the state court. The 
Illinois court had just decided a case precis.^ly like that of 
Whiting's in favor of the validity of a tax in aid of railways; 
so that, if Olcott had owned county orders in Illinois of pre- 
cisely the same nature as those sued upon, he would have 
had his suit decided against him by the federal court in Wis- 
consin, and for him by the same court in Illinois. 

The court, at its December term, 1872, decided fully in 
Carpenter's favor, using, in describing railroads as public 
highways, almost the exact words of his argument. The 
judgment of the court below v^as reversed, and thus \s as 
settled, as he had previously held in the letter and speech 
before quoted, by the court from which there is no appeal, 
the principle that railways are public highways; that the 
right of eminent domain may be exercised to secure right-of- 
way for them; that taxes maybe lawfully levied upon a 



INTER-STATE COMMERCE. 1 53 

willing public in aid of their construction, and that, conse- 
quently, they may be controlled by the legislative power 
that created them. The language of the court is this: 

That the legislature ol" Wisconsin may alter or repeal the charter granted 
to the Sheboygan & Fond du Lac Railroad Company is certain. This is 
a power reserved by the constitution. The railroad can, therefore, b ■ con- 
trolled and rcgidated by the state. Its use can be defined; its tolls and rates 
for transportatio7i may be limited. Is a work, made by the authoiity of the 
state, subject to its regulation, and having tor its object an increase of pub- 
lic convenience, to be regarded as ordinary private property? 

INTER-STATE COMMERCE 

Bj^ invitation, on September i8, 1873, Carpenter delivered 
the annual address before the agricultural society of Winne- 
bago county, Illinois, at Roclcford, upon regulating and con- 
trolling inter-state and other commerce. He said that in no 
other country had corporations ever been created for such a 
variety of purposes or clothed with such extraordinary pow- 
ers as in the United States. He thought for each state to 
attempt to regulate commerce between the states after its 
own fashion would result in discord. He pointed out: 

The vast importance of our internal commerce, the extortion, bv those 
engaged in the carrying business, and the general awakening of public at- 
tention to the subject, will very soon compel congress to enter upon this 
wide but as yet unoccupied field of federal power, to rescue commerce 
among the states from the excessive exactions of the railroad companies 
* * * * Another source of corruption in railroad management and 
oppression to the people is that those who are engaged in the carrying busi. 
ness are also engaged in the traffic of commerce. The officers of a great 
railroad line may buy a large amount of wheat and flour in the far west, 
and then suddenly reduce the price of transportation at the expense of their 
own stockholders, and transport their own produce at a greatly reduced 
rate, thus pocketing a vast sum of money. When their wheat is removed, 
the freights are raised again and applied to the outside public. It is as 
competent to demand that any person, being a stockholder or director of a 
corporation engaged in the carrying business, shall not at the same time be 
engaged in buying produce to be transported by himself or by hiscompanv, 
as it is to provide that no member of congress shall practice in the court of 
claims, or that no officer engaged in collection of customs shall curry on 
foreign commerce. 



154 ^^^^ °^ CARPENTER. 

Proceeding to show by authorities what power congress 
had to correct the excesses complained of, he declared that 
" if the federal government can not or will not deal with this 
evil, tjien it must be confessed the constitution has failed to 
accomplish one of the principal ends it was intended to se- 
cure." He claimed to have established by his reasoning and 
his authorities these propositions: 

(i) Railroads are highways, and therefore riiay be built with money raised 
by taxation ; and, without reg ;rd to how money has been obtained to build 
them, their management mav be controlled and their tariff rates fixed by 
legislative authority, (j) Congress, under its power to regulate commerce 
among the several states, may regulate the tarilT of rates upon all railroads 
as to int.'r-state commerce — that is, when the place of destination and point 
of shipment are not both in the same state. • (3) Congress also has the 
power, as a regulation of inter-state commerce, to build or authorize the 
building of such number of trunk roads between the west and the east as 
may be necessary to reduce, by competition, the price of transportation to a 
reasonable amount. 

The address was a very elaborate effort, of thirty octavo 
pages, and fortified by extracts from or references to about 
fifty of the highest opinions in the land. 

THE POTTER LAW. 

The possible aggressions of the railway companies, pre- 
dicted in the speech of 1869, continued to grow in Wisconsin 
in size and number until the people became thoroughly exas- 
perated. Political lines were broken, leaders confused, and 
parties demoralized. The members of an agrarian order 
calling themselves Grangers raised the cry against the rail- 
ways, mingled in political conventions, and, joining with the 
democrats, nominated Wm. R. Taylor for governor. He 
was a Granger, and, nerved by tlie shibboleth of " Down 
with the railways," his entire ticket was elected over C. C. 
Wa.shburn, by fifteen thousand votes, the first majority 

1 In January, iSS^,, the supreme c lurtof Illinois wont even further than 
Carpentjr, and held that the legislature of any state could fix the freight 
tariff to be ch.irged for transporting articles shipped from stations within, 
but destined for points outside of that state — even European ports. 



THE POTTER LAW. 1 55 

secured by the democrats since 1S53. The election appeared 
to be an uprising of the people against the railways. 

The legislature met in January, 1874, ^^'^ ^^^ about the 
formation of a law that would appease popular clamor. The 
result was an enactment called the Potter law.^ The numer- 
ous corporations employed the most powerful lobbies ever 
marshaled in Madison, for the purpose of defeating the 
measure, but without avail. Public sentiment, without re- 
spect to party, sanctioned its provisions, and it was duly 
ingrafted upon the statute books, providing reduced and fixed 
tarifis for the transportation of passengers and freight, pun- 
ishing discriminations of every sort, whether by rebates, 
gifts, return transportation, or otherwise — in short, bringing 
the entire carrying business strictly within legislative control. 

Against this law, the railways proposed absolute resist- 
ance. Relying upon the decisions of previous state courts, 
they declared the act unconstitutional, and Alexander 
Mitchell, of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway 
Company, and Albert Keep, of the Chicago & North-West- 
ern Railway Company, issued proclamations of defiance.^ 

1 Named after its author, R. L. D. Potter. 

2 The following extract from a proclamation by Governor Taylor, pro- 
mulgated in May, 1S74, shows that, in his prediction of 1S69, Carpenter 
penetrated the future of railway aggressions with the prescience of a 
prophet : 

Whereas, The legislature, at its last session, passed an act entitled "An 
act relating to railroad, express and telegraph companies in the state of 
Wisconsin," classifying railroads and freights, limiting and fixing the com- 
pensation to be charged for the transportation of freights and passengers, and 
providing for the appointment of railroad commissioners; and, 

Whereas, Said act was duly approved on the fourth day of March, A. D. 
1S74, and was ofllcially published on the twenty-eighth day of April, A. D. 
1874, and is now, to all intents and purposes, the law of the land; and. 

Whereas, The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company and 
the Chicago Si. North- Western Railway Company, on the twenty-ninth day 
of April, A. D. 1S74, filed in the executive department communications signed 
bv their respective presidents, and addressed to the governor of the state 
of Wisconsin, in which they announce a determination to operate their 
roads without reference to the provisions of said act and in defiance of its 
requirements. 



156 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Excitement rose higher than ever. Powerful arguments by 
the greatest lawyers in the Union, hired by the railways to 
write on their side, were published in the leading journals, for 
the purpose of perverting public opinion. ' Among the distin- 
guished contributors of false theory and unsound conclusions 
to the confusion and uncertainty of the hour, were Wm. M. 
Evarts and Charles O'Conor, of New York, and E. Rock- 
wood Hoar and Benjamin R. Curtis, of Massachusetts. 
These were strong names. Pifblic opinion, too, was strong, 
but not strong enough to fee lawyers of equal ability to 
write in the interest of the people on the opposite side of the 
question. 

Thus, with nothing tangible on which to rely, the masses 
halted in the midst of their doubts and misgivings, while the 
raiKvays continued their defiance and violation of law. Dur- 
ing this period of suspense, Elisha W. Keyes, chairman of 
the Wisconsin republican state central committee, proceeded 
to Washington, and informed Carpenter that the tax-payers 
must have light upon the question that was distracting the 
public mind, from an unbiased source; must have an un- 
bought opinion upon the constitutionality of the Potter law. 
They desired, he explained, to abandon it if in error; other- 
wise, to feel free and safe to enforce it against the defiant 
railroads, at whatever hazard. 

At ten o'clock in the evening of May 10, 1874, Carpenter 
agreed to comply with the request. " I will," he promised, 
"see who can be master of this country — the people or the 
corporations." He then fell to the task, and continued his 
investigations during the entire night. When the gray light 
of morniniT be^an to dim the flickering flames in his oilice, 
the opinion had been completed, and sustained, without reser- 
vation or equivocation, the constitutionality and the validity 
of every provision of the Potter law. It was composed at 
four o'clock in the morning, started with Keyes for Wisconsin 
the same day, and was published four days later in the JVis- 
consin Stale Journal. 



AN EBULLITION OF SLIME. I57 

AN EBULLITION OF SLIME. 

It is scarcely possible to describe the malignity of the 
attacks that followed the publication of that opinion. The rail- 
way corporations paid liberal sums to various newspapers — 
especially one in Chicago — for Carpenter's vilification, and 
caused the calumnies to be republished in lesser sheets 
throughout Wisconsin, and scattered in pamphlet form over 
the commonwealth in great numbers. Those articles were 
put forth in conspicuous black type under such titles as 
" Matt. Carpenter, the American Carl Marx," " Carpenter's 
Infamous Proposition of Downright Robbery," " Plea of the 
Communistic Demagogue Carpenter for Free Confisca- 
tion," and "Matt., the Champion of Robber3^" The black- 
guardism of the body of the articles was in exact consonance 
with the slander of these titles. Such sentences as " Matt. 
Carpenter, the focus of American knavery, holds that the 
state has a right to steal locomotives, that no man has a right 
to two coats or to any other property," were common. 

The bombardment of slime and libel was not allowed to 
diminish until the federal and other courts had decided that 
Carpenter's doctrine was just and his conclusions of law cor- 
rect, and that the Potter law was constitutional and valid, as 
he had pronounced it. But the attacks on him took more 
tangible form than that of mere billingsgate and abuse. His 
office in Milwaukee was fired, on one occasion a large 
amount of ignited combustibles piled against the door being 
discovered and extinguished by Dr. Forster. Having been 
warned that his life was in danger. Carpenter went armed 
during the balance of the excitement, and his family lived 
for some weeks in a state of intense fear that he would meet 
with bodily harm. Mrs. Carpenter watched anxiously for 
his coming every evening, and, if he did not appear promptly 
on time, the coachman was dispatched post-haste to dis- 
cover whether the wicked threats had been carried into exe- 
cution. 



158 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

He probably was at no time in actual clanger of ph3'sical 
harm; but the methods resorted to for his intimidation were 
certainly extraordinary and criminal — such as would be 
likely to seriously frighten the tenderer members of any 
household. It was a period of fevered excitement, and re- 
vealed to the people more clearly than anything else ever 
had the true metal of the man. 

CHARNEL-HOUSE OF CORPORATIONS. 

Shortly after the publication of the opinion, Carpenter was 
invited by the officers of the agricultural society of Ripon, 
Wisconsin, to deliver an address at their next exhibition, on 
" The power of legislatures to govern corporations of their 
own creation." He accepted, and September 16, 1874, ap- 
peared before an audience of thousands of farmers and busi- 
ness men. The effort was an argument more than a popular 
address. Its trend was similar to that of the letters, speeches 
and arguments previously made, but it was much fuller and its 
conclusions more irresistible. Its ramifications extended in 
all directions, only to strengthen and enlarge the inevitable 
result. In his opening sentences he said: 

I am requested to discuss here the power ot the legislature over railroad 
and other corporations The power of tlie legislature is one tiling — a mere 
constitutional question; the propriety' of its exercise, and the extent to 
which it should be exercised, are very different questions, falling entirely 
within the domain of public policy. I shall therefore, with one hand, open 
the great armory of sovereign power, and in doing so shall expose many 
weapons which wisdom and prudence, an enlightened sense ot justice and 
of the public good will dictate should never be used except in case of dire 
necessity. With the other hand I shall open the charnel house of corpora- 
tions and bid these companies, 

" Come view the ground 

Where they must shortly lie," 

if they persist in a struggle with the powers of sovereignty. 

Carpenter then explained that the railway companies based 
their pretensions to be above other people and the laws, to be 
exempt from the operation of the acts passed by the legisla- 



CHARNEL-HOUSE OF CORPORATIONS. 1 59 

ture, upon three propositions, to wit: That they were the 
owners of certain property which they could use or not as 
they pleased, and if used, had the right to collect such charges 
as they pleased; (2) that the state had entered into a contract 
with them, and any attempt to fix their tarifl' rates was a vio- 
lation of that contract — a thing forbidden b}^ the constitu- 
tion ; and (3) that even if the legislature had the power, it would 
be unjust to capitalists to exercise it after money had been in- 
vested under charters supposed by them to confer the un- 
qualified right to fix their own rates. 

The fallacy of these pretensions he thoroughly exposed. 
Railway corporations, unlike marriages, were not creations of 
the Divinity, said he ; therefore they had no natural or inalien- 
able rights. They were mere human contrivances, subject 
to the will of their creator without reserve or limit. In con- 
cluding, he believed he had shown, as clearly as human logic 
and law could show, the truth of these propositions: 

1. That railways are the mere creatures of law, drawing their breath of 
life from law alone, capable of doing only what the law permits them to do, 
and holding their lives and their powers at the mere will of the legislature. 

2. That the business these companies are engaged in is one which even 
natural persons can not carry on without permission of the legislature. 

3. That the companies are obliged to transport passengers and freight 
for reasonable compensation, and subject themselves to suits for damages 
and to forfeitures of charter if they fail to do so. 

4. That railways are public highways, the title vested in the corporation, 
hut vested in in(si_for ///e x/afe/ that the companies are merely the agents 
of the state for the operation and management of these great highways; 
that the money invested by tlie companies as compensation for lands con- 
demned or right-of-way purchased, and to build, equip and operate the roads, 
is regarded as consideration paid to the state for the franchise conferred by 
the state upon the companies. And, 

5. That the charters granted ur.der the constitution are not protected by 
the constitution of the United States as construed in the Dartmouth Col- 
lege case, but may be altered or repealed at any time. 

From these propositions tlie power of the legislature to govern and con- 
trol railroads and fix a tariff of rates for them results as a necessary and 
logical conclusion It is a well-established doctrine of the law, that every- 
thing within what is called publici juris is subject to legislative control. 
Bridges, ferries, turnpikes, mill-dams and fisheries are illustrative subjects. 



l6o LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

And when the character of railways is ascertained to fall within this class 
of property, full legislative control follows as matter of course. 

The prophecies of Isaiah, in which are recorded in advance the successive 
footfalls of an expiring nationality, are no truer than the language of the 
supreme court of South Carolina in regard to railroads, wherein they say 
that "railways, if placed aloof from such [legislative] control, would i )ieviia- 
bly become suspected of partialUy and odious to the fcopleP The railways of 
our own state, having thus far been exempt from such control, have become 
suspected of partiality, and, in a sense, have become odious to the people. 
No corporation can prosper under such circumstances. In this country 
nothing can exist which is not supported by public opinion. The true pol- 
icy of railroad companies is to regain what they have lost — public confi- 
dence. How can this be so certainly achieved as by submitting to legislative 
control.' * * There is not the slightest doubt that when they shall sub- 
mit to the law and furl their insurrectionary banners, the k-gislature will 
deal not only justly but generously by them. * * But the power of 
the legislature must never be abandoned by the people. When that prin- 
ciple shall once be established and conceded by all, the details of legislation 
should be so arranged, and will be, as to do complete justice both to the 
corporations and to the people. 

That power has not since been " abandoned by the people," 
either in Wisconsin or any other state, and the doctrines he 
enunciated subsequently became the decisions of the highest 
state courts, and were affiriTied fully by the lasting judgment 
of the supreme court of the United States. They are now 
accepted everywhere, by railroads as well as courts and legis- 
latures. They are settled principles which no cause or 
emergency brings into dispute or question. 

Curiously enough, while Carpenter was delivering an ad- 
dress at Janesville, Wisconsin, and just as he had made a 
spirited reference to the contest between the people and the 
railways, he received a telegram from Madison, where 
Judges David Davis, of the United States supreme court, 
Thomas Drummond, of the United States circuit court, and 
James C. Hopkins, of the United States district court, were 
hearing a test-case under the Potter law, slating that the act 
in all its provisions had been held constitutional and valid. 

These great triumphs, the good influence of which will 
never cease to be felt by tiie people, came at the end of a 



CHARNEL-HOUSE OF CORPORATIONS. l6l 

long series of vituperations and personal as well as profes- 
sional defamations that never have had a parallel in Wiscon- 
sin. The stand he made was precisely like that of the 
individual who went out single-handed to do battle against 
the artillery, musketry and cavalry of an entire army. Few 
lawyers ever scored a more complete and important victory, 
and none ever moved more fearlessly forward in what he 
deemed to be the just cause of the people while receiving 
more numerous wounds or more lasting scars. 
II 



l62 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

ADMISSION TO THE BAR. 

But few attorneys ever practiced before as many courts 
as Carpenter. He was first admitted to the bar in Ver- 
mont, the record being in this form: "At the November 
term, 1847, of the Washington county court, and on the 
25th day of November, D. M. H. Carpenter was duly 
enrolled as an attorney of said court, having taken the 
oath prescribed by the rules." At this time he passed such 
an unusually creditable examination as to attract the atten- 
tion of Chief Justice Redlield, who complimented him pub- 
licly upon his attainments and his promising future. The 
admission was upon the recommendation of Mr. Dillingham. 

His next admission was on February 16, 1848, when, upon 
the motion of Rufus Choate, he was admitted to practice as 
an attorney and counselor of the supreme judicial court of 
Massachusetts, in Boston, Suffolk county. His was the only 
admission on that day, and he signed the roll in a clear, clean 
hand, " D. M. H. Carpenter." 

Arriving in Wisconsin just after it had been admitted as a 
state but before its circuit courts had been organized, Car- 
penter appeared before Judge David Irvin, in the United 
States district court, June term, 1848, for Rock county, and 
formally became an attorney of that court. At the first 
term of the circuit court for Rock county under the state 
government, and on September 18, 1848, the opening day of 
said term, Carpenter and twenty others were admitted to 
practice by Judge Edward V. Whiton. 

On December 20, 1850, he was, on motion, admitted as 
" an attorney and counselor " of the supreme court of the 
state of Wisconsin, took the prescribed oath, and signed his 
name to the roll: "Math. Hale Carpenter." This record is 
notable for the reason that, so far as known, it is the first 



LAW PARTNERS. 1 63 

instance in which he used the words " Matthew Hale " as a 
portion of his signature.^ At Milwaukee, January 5, 1852, he 
was admitted to practice in the United States district court, 
before Judge A. G. Miller, and signed the roll " Matt. H. 
Carpenter." 

During the December term, 1861, of the United States 
supreme court, held at Washington, he became an attorney 
and counselor thereof, the record being in these words: " On 
motion first made to the court in this behalf by Hon. Jere- 
miah S. Black, it is ordered that Matthew H. Carpenter, 
Esquire, of Milwaukee, state of Wisconsin, be admitted to 
practice as an attorney and counselor of the court, and he 
was sworn accordingly, February 5, 1862." 

In later years, as Carpenter's practice became greatly 
enlarged and diversified, he was admitted to the supreme and 
other courts of New York, the supreme court of Maryland, 
the supreme and other courts of Pennsylvania, the various 
courts sitting in the District of Columbia, the various courts 
of Virginia, Illinois, and of several other states. 

LAW PARTNERS. 

In his early years, Carpenter conceived the idea that a 
first-class lawyer needs no partners — in fact, that such a 
practitioner is generally hampered and injured, rather than 
benefited, by partnership relations. Therefore, when he 
settled in Beloit, having previously refused the partnership 

1 In the postscript to a letter written to his sister, Esther J. Taylor, under 
date of January i, 1851, he explained: "Signing my name Matt. H. Car- 
penter, reminds me that I should explain. I had so many initials every- 
body fell into mistakes with them — some writing P. Q. R., some D. H. 
M., some M. H. D., some H. D. M., some one thing, and some another. So 
I concluded to drop the D. Then, as Merritt Hammond was so plebeian^ I 
determined to change the thing altogether. I now write it Matthew Hale 
Carpenter." As Carpenter was always a derider of aristocracy, the reason 
he has given for the change, namely, that his childhood name was too 
"plebeian," is undoubtedly, like the balance of the letter from which this is 
quoted, jocular. He was originally named in honor of a friend, Decatur 
Merritt Hammond Carpenter. 



164 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

offers of Paul Dillingham and Rufus Choate, he resolved to 
enter into no alliances with other attorneys, but to " paddle 
his own canoe." So determined, as has been properly re- 
cited, he rented an office and hung out his "shingle" as 
plain " D. M. H. Carpenter, counselor at law." 

After returning, late in the summer of 1850, from the 
east, he received a proposition from Hazen Cheney, who 
had begun to achieve professional success, to enter into a 
partnership. The proposal was favorable, and in September 
of that year, being yet partially blind. Carpenter changed 
his mind, and the firm of Cheney & Carpenter was an- 
nounced. In 1856, some months before Carpenter retired 
from his second term as district attorne;^ of Rock county, the 
partnership was dissoh^ed, Mr. Cheney going on an extended 
journey to Europe. His letters from abroad were edited by 
Carpenter, and published in the local papers of Rock county. 

In the fall of 1858, shortly after Carpenter took up his 
residence in Milwaukee, he joined professionally with Edward 
G. Ryan, under the name and style of Ryan & Carpenter. 
This was regarded at the time, as in fact it was, the strongest 
legal firm in the northwest. Distinguished honors and hand- 
some retainers were predicted for them. In March, 1859, 
James G. Jenkins, a young man who had begun to attract 
attention, was added to the alliance, and the firm name 
changed to Ryan, Carpenter & Jenkins. The terms of the 
new agreement provided that Carpenter and Ryan should 
retain the proceeds of strictly counsel business. At the 
end of about sixty days this legal family was broken up, the 
cause being a marked misunderstanding between the senior 
members as to the division of the retainers in the famous pro- 
ceedings involving the Milwaukee & La Crosse Railway, 
Carpenter being counsel for Newcomb Cleveland, and Ryan 
for Barnes, trustee of the third mortgage bonds. It is impossi- 
ble to estimate the degree of fame and prosperity this firm 
would have achieved if its members had continued together 
harmoniously. They were all singularly brilliant and sue- 



LAW PARTNERS. 165 

cessful men. Ryan became chief justice of the Wisconsin 
supreme court, and Mr. Jenkins, having been once a nom- 
inee for the governorship, is now at the head of one of the 
most successful law-firms in Wisconsin. 

Many laughable stories concerning the domestic infelicity 
of the firm of Ryan, Carpenter & Jenkins were afloat at the 
time of its dissolution. The popular belief was that the sepa- 
ration grew out of the fact that Carpenter was unable to 
bring Ryan into a laugh, and Ryan unable to provoke Car- 
penter to anger. Certain it was, that, though occupying ad- 
joining rooms, connected by an ample and easy-swinging 
door, the two carried on all business transactions with each 
other through the medium of written messages, carried back 
and forth by the perplexed but faithful clerk. 

From 1859, until his election to the senate. Carpenter had 
no partners. In August, 1869, he formed a partnership with 
Newton S. Murphey, which continued until 1875, with offices 
in Milwaukee managed by Mr. Murphey, Carpenter being 
largely engaged at Washington, where he also had office 
apartments. 

In 1875 the law-firm of Carpenter & Smiths was formed, 
which was not dissolved until shortly before Carpenter's 
death. The junior members of the firm (who occupied the 
Milwaukee office and attended to its western business, while 
Carpenter continued as before in Washington) were Winfield 
and A. A. L. Smith, gentlemen of fine professional character 
and accomplishments, and high business and social standing. 

In April, 1877, he formed another pact in order to keep 
pace with his large and increasing Washington business. 
The name and style of the firm was Carpenter & Coleman, 
the junior member being James Coleman, a prominent at- 
torney, federal official and political manager of Fond du 
Lac, Wisconsin. This business alliance was dissolved by 
Carpenter's death. Its professional transactions were simply 
enormous and its success exceptive. 

It can not, of course, be said that they were in formal 



1 66 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

partnership, but Carpenter, at various times, was engaged 
to assist, or had the assistance of in important causes, such 
great jurists as Stephen A. Douglas, Jeremiah S. Black, 
James A. Garfield, Caleb Cushing, Wayne MacVeagh, 
William FuUerton, Benjamin F. Butler, John A. Campbell, 
Charles O'Conor, Reverdy Johnson, Edwin M. Stanton, 
Montgomery Blair, Richard K. Merrick, Ashbel Green, 
Wm. C. Whitney, Samuel Shellabarger, Luther S. Dixon, 
Wm. M. Evarts, Wm. M. Meredith, Lyman Trumbull, Dan- 
iel Cady, Jonathan E. Arnold, Timothy O. Howe, Harlow 
S. Orton, Benjamin Robbins Curtis, and many others. 



UNITED STATES SUPRExME COURT. 167 



CHAPTER XVII. 

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. 

The various members of the supreme court of the United 
States greeted the appearance of no contemporaneous attor- 
ney who practiced before them with more genuine satisfaction 
than they inwardly accorded to Carpenter. He was always so 
genial and courteous in his manners, so attractive in appear- 
ance, and withal so rich in his eloquence, original in his style 
and clear in his reasoning, that they esteemed it a rare treat 
to listen to his arguments. He entered the supreme court 
chamber for the first time in 1862, and, after making a brief 
argument on a preliminary motion in the matter of his first 
cause before that tribunal, seated himself before leaving the 
chamber and wrote to his wife: 

Supreme Court Room, Friday, 12 o'clock, M. 
My Darling Babies: — The gravest, most dignified body of men on 
earth is just now before me. A squeaking voice from Jersey is enlightening 
the court, yet my thought is over the prairie and my lieart with you, dear, 
precious pair, who are to me more than courts or oratorj', more than sov- 
ereignty or power — dearer than the ruddy drops that visit my heart. 
I am well and shall write you more at length when I get rested. 

Matt. 

Carpenter always entertained a profound respect and ad- 
miration for the supreme court, and frequently, in some deli- 
cate manner during his arguments, made this feeling known 
to its members. Whenever people were disposed to attack 
the courts and condemn litigation as a lottery which was as 
likely to mete out injustice as justice, he rebuked them, point- 
ing out the incorruptibility, conscientiousness and great wis- 
dom of the supreme court of the United States, with the 
invariable addendum that " no man was ever unjustly dealt 
with by that tribunal." But this admiration and respect was 
not all on one side ; it seemed to be mutually cordial between 
the court and Carpenter. Salmon P. Chase said: "We re- 



1 68 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

gard that boy as one of the very ablest jurists in the country. 
I am not the only justice on this bench who delights in his 
eloquence and his reasoning." 

During several years he appeared before this court not 
less, and perhaps more frequently than any other lawyer in 
the United States, and became very familiar and friendly 
with the judges. This gave rise, no doubt, to the many 
ludicrous anecdotes extant in regard to his alleged contempt 
for judicial dignity, but all of which were as far from the 
truth as possible. For instance, it was published in almost 
every newspaper in the country, that the first time Carpen- 
penter entered the chamber after the appointment of Morri- 
son R. Waite to be chief justice, he " swaggered up to the 
new presiding judge," and, reaching his hand toward the 
silver snuff-box that lay before Waite, exclaimed: '■'■ Mister^ 
please give me a pinch of that snuff ! " For an unaccount- 
able reason this story, ridiculously improbable as it was, 
dropped into very general belief, and afforded Carpenter 
more annoyance than any other of that sort ever concocted. 

There was, it must be admitted, some foundation for an- 
ecdotes of that character, as he was the sunshine of that 
solemn and august chamber. Almost any practitioner can, 
before a justice of the peace or in the ordinary country courts, 
throw the groundlings into convulsions by exploding cheap 
jokes or reciting, witli groan and grimace, the musty stories 
of his grandfathers; but the men who can be witty and jocular 
arid yet not offensive before such a grave and learned body 
as the supreme court of the United States, are indeed few. 
Carpenter was among and the leader of those few. 

Caleb Cushing once said to Henry Wilson, as the twain 
sat in the chamber and observed Carpenter entering, his 
coat and vest unfastened on account of the excessive heat, 
a bundle of papers and a volume of reports in one hand and 
a large palm-leaf fan in the other: " I do love to watch the 
entry of that man into court; he comes in with such a sun- 
shiny smile, such a boyish indifference of step, and such a 



UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. 169 

roguish twinkle of the eyes, as seem to say, ' Now, listen 
while I have some sport ^ with these old codgers.' " There 
was absolutely no other attorney of that court who could do 
those things and have them appear well on his part, and 
prove a source of pleasure to the occupants of the bench. 

During the nineteen years Carpenter was a practitioner 
before the supreme court, he presented a comparatively 
large number of brother attorneys for admission, and in 
making the necessary motions hardly ever failed to put 
forth a delicate compliment for the' applicant or the court, or 
both. For instance, he introduced to the court, and moved 
the admission to practice as an attorney thereof, Joseph A. 
Sleeper, of Chicago, while Justice Nelson was on the bench. 
It was Nelson's habit on such occasions to ask the attorney 
presenting an applicant, " Is the candidate qualified under 
the rule ? " After having made his motion, Carpenter ob- 
served the punctilious justice preparing to propound his 
usual question, and quickly added, " I may say, your honor, 
that Brother Sleeper is not only qualified under the rule, 
but far beyond the rule." At this unexpected destruction of 
his time-honored formality, a curious expression overspread 
Justice Nelson's face, the countenances of the other justices 
relaxed into broad smiles, and the attorneys present agreed 

* He himself has described how he first " took the court by the horns: " 

Monday Noon, February 13, 1865. 

Dear Wife: — The agony is over. The motion is decided and in our 
favor. Our cause is to be taken up, out of its order ^ on the 27tli instant 
Good! 

You don't know how relieved I feel, how gratified I am. Mr. Ewing 
and Mr. Carlisle said it would be useless to try it; such a motion would 
never prevail. It did, though. 

Judge Hall, of California, congratulating me this morning, said he never 

heard so bitter a speech in court as I made on this motion, and he expecteij 

every moment the judges would stop me. So did I, I must confess; 

though I kept my eye wide open on old Chase, and intended, if I saw him 

firing up, to dodge. 

They didn't stop me, but did stop Cary. 

Truly, Matt. 



170 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

that, under the circumstances, none of the cloth ever re- 
ceived a better "send-oft'" in the supreme court. 

Notwithstanding occasional playfulness, Carpenter's argu- 
ments and reasonings on mooted and unsettled questions of 
law or practice had great influence upon the court individ- 
ually^ and collectively, and went as far as those of any other 
man of his time in determining them. This was on account 
of the wonderful perspicuity and clearness of his reasoning 
and the justness as w^ell as strength of his conclusions. That 
fact the members of the court never denied, nor did they 
ever fail, in private intercourse, to pay the highest compli- 
ments to his ability. In fact, at the conclusion of his first 
argument before this court, he was awarded the honorable 
distinction of a very unqualified and hearty compliment from 
the judges. 

The facts are to some extent related in his own way in the 
following letter, composed while his first real contest before 
the court was progressing: 

Washington, D. C, Thursday Evening. 

My Dear Wife: — I have been nearly intoxicated, not with whisky, 
but flattery. Day before yesterday I spoke a little over an hour and yester- 
day all day. There is no end or limit to the praise I have received from 
the highest sources. Judge Grier told Middleton that I was as good an 
orator as Clay ever was, and that he, who had heard all the great lawyers 
of this country, had never listened to a better argument. Judge Nelson 
told Starkweather (the general) this morning that my speech yesterday was 
a perfect treat. Lawyers, congressmen and everybody seem to think I 
have made a great strike and made my mark in tiie supreme court for all 
time. 

All this is at least very pleasant, and you who are waiting in loneliness 
to have me make a "sbike" and then return, are entitled to enjoy my tri- 
umph. And I know you will forgive the vanity of repeating these things. 

Brown spoke again this morning two hours, and Browning now has the 
floor against me, and will probably speak an hour in the morning; then 1 
•shall reply to them three hours to-morrow. * * * * ♦ 
Believe me, as ever, Matt. 

From time to time all the justices who knew him have 
uttered tributes to Carpenter's genius and learning. Stephen 



UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. I*J1 

J. Field has written that " he was one of the most remarka- 
ble men who ever appeared before the supreme cornet of the 
United States." Joseph P. Bradley is more generous but not 

more emphatic. He has written: 

Washington, D. C, January 28, 18S3. 

Dear Sir: — Having never been in a social way very intimate with Mr. 
Carpenter, I can recall no anecdotes of his every-day life worth recording. 
As a lawyer I knew him much better. I esteemed him one of the best ad- 
vocates I ever knew. He was extremely happy in possessing the court at 
once with the pith and gist of his case, no matter how occult or compli- 
cated it might be. Although to always do this must have cost him an im- 
mense amount of labor and exact investigation, his address did not betray 
them, except in the result, his manner and style having all the outward 
appearance of being perfectly off-hand and spontaneous. 

He was indeed a thorough-bred lawyer, and must have devoted himselt 
in the early part of his studies very closely and laboriously to the great 
classics of the law. It was a real pleasure to see him in any case ; and 
whatever else came, we always knew we should have at least one strong 
beam 01 light poured upon the pending case before it was closed. 

As far as my personal intercourse with Mr. Carpenter did extend, I al- 
ways found him genial, pleasant and full of life and heartiness. It really 
gave me pain once, when Mr. Middleton, our clerk, told me Mr. Carpenter 
had a fancy that I did not like him. I could not help exclaiming: '' If I do 
not like Carpenter whom do I like.?" I suppose he became possessed of 
the erroneous impression from the fact that 1 really felt toward him more 
as one fellow-lawyer feels toward another whom he loves, and was, perhaps, 
more free in my remarks upon his positions in argument than I would have 
been toward a more prim and solemn and distant individual. An explana- 
tion of this position made our subsequent relations exceedingly pleasant. 

It is sad past expression to think Mr. Carpenter's life has gone out. It 
was a brilliant light, and will live in the memory of those who knew him 
as long as their lives shall last. It is also sad to contemplate the fact that 
some of our most brilliant lawyers are forgotten after a few years, while 
the plodders-on-paper remain fixed in the public mind. They illustrate 
what Tacitus says or Quintus Haterius: " At the close of this year died 
those distinguished men, Asinius Agrippa, of honorable rather than an- 
cient ancestry, of which he was most worthy, and Quintus Haterius, of sen- 
atorial family and an eloquence celebrated whilst he lived, but no monuments 
of whose genius have survived, for his strength lay in original vigor rather 
than preparation; and whilst the plodding industry of others comes down 
to us, the sweet voice and fluent eloquence of Haterius died with him." 

Mr. Carpenter's senatorial efforts are, of course, preserved in the mauso- 
leum of the Congressional Record, but they are by no means his best. His 



172 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

noble forensic arguments, which ought to have made him immortal, are 
entirely lost — especially the embellishment and charm ot "that sweet 
voice and fluent eloquence." 

Yours truly, Joseph P. Bradley. 

Justice Samuel F. Miller's special tribute is this: 

Washingtox, February 23, 1SS3. 

Dear Sir : — My first acquaintance with Mr. Carpenter was made when, 
in the summer of 1S63, 1 went to Milwaukee to hold the circuit court of the 
United States for that district The short term of the court was mainly 
engrossed with what has been familiarly known as the La Crosse railway 
litigation. There were numerous cases on the docket, in which the road, 
its ownership, its mortgages and its ruins were involved, in all of which 
Mr. Carpenter was engaged. 

It was evident at once that he was the peer of any man at the bar, and 
the superior of most of them even then, although he was quite a young 
man. This relation was not changed when he came to the bar of the su- 
preme court ot the United States, where he at once, on his first appearance 
in fact, took a front rank among its members, which he retained until the 
day of his death. 

I well remember, on the occasion of his first argument, when the judges 
were exchanging their robes for their overcoats in the little room appropri- 
ated for that purpose, that Judge Grier, addressing me, exclaimed: "Brother 
Miller, who is that Mr. Carpenter who has come down from your circuit.'' 
I want to know him, for I have heard nothing equal to his eflbrt to-day 
since Mr. Webster was before us." 

Mr. Carpenter had a sweet voice, a manly, frank manner, with just 
enough animation to command the attention, without fatiguing the ear. 
Mis utterance was very distinct, and his command of the most appropriate 
words, whether technical or otherwise, was equal to that of any man to 
whom I ever listened. Of course, this constituted him a natural orator, and 
for places in which it was my fortune to hear him — in the courts — whether 
at 7iisi f litis in the haste and excitement of every-day practice, or in the 
more sedate audience of the supreme court, I have not known his superior 
in that character. 

But he was more. He was a great lawyer. He was thoroughly versed 
in the learning 01 his profession, with a mind eminently adapted to seize 
and elucidate its principles. 

I think the most remarkable trait in Mr. Carpenter's character was his 
industry. With an easy elocution, a fine command of the choicest lan- 
guage, and a fullness of legal learning rarely equaled, he never came to the 
argument of any case without a previous preparation as laborious and 
thorough as the youngest lawyer in his first appearance would be expected 
to make. It was this which enabled him to be always prepared to answer 



UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. 1 73 

questions put to him by the court in those colloquies they delighted to hold 
with him, and in which his readiness, his apt repartee and his enviable good 
nature showed him in the best phase of his character. 

He was my intimate and valued friend for the whole period ot his pub- 
lic life, and I love to linger over his character as a great lawyer and 
great advocate. I know of no contemporary of his greater in this char- 
acter. Yours truly, Sam'l F. Miller. 

Not, perhaps, in the form of writings that may be herein 
preserved, but each in his own way, the other justices have 
honored Carpenter no less than is done in the foregoing let- 
ters. The judicial history of the United States affords but 
few instances of this kind. It is a judgment from the high- 
est source affirming Carpenter's genius and learning in those 
enactments and principles that govern our earthly actions 
and determine the equitable relations of all mankind. 



174 ^^^^ *^^ CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

ATTRIBUTES AND TRIBUTES. 

There never was an argument naturally so abstract and 
dry that Carpenter could not enrich and make it attractive. 
In travelinfj throujrh the dreariest waste of citations and au- 
thorities he never failed to strew the pathway with the roses 
of his illustration and the fragrance of his humor. His most 
grave and profound pleadings were now and then unexpect- 
edly illuminated by the vivid corruscations of his wit, as 
through the blackest storm-clouds burst the brightest flashes 
of lightning. In this respect none of his contemporaries 
could imitate him. Therefore it was that counsel and judges 
always observed his coming with pleasure, for they knew 
that before finishing he certainly would give them something 
enjo3'able. It is a matter of regret that those innumerable 
gleams of overflowing genius as well as all the inesistible 
illustrations of his court oratory have been lost, except where 
their dimmed and mangled fragments may remain in the 
memories of those who can not repeat but will never forget 
their original brilliancy. 

His printed briefs were frequently as quaint and laughable 
as his oral arfjuments were rich and varieijated. One of his 
many suits for Newcomb Cleveland was against the insolv- 
ent Marine Bank of Milwaukee, on a financial transaction in 
1859. He prayed the court for an order to compel all the 
creditors of the bank to contribute to the expenses of his suit, 
asked for a receiver, and also prayed " that such other orders, 
regulations, special proceedings and unheard-of remedies 
may be from time to time in this action invented, ordered and 
had as the nature of the case ma}^ require, and that this 
plaintiir may from time to time and always (for he never ex- 
pects to see the end of this action) have such other and 
further, new and extraordinary relief as the nature of this 



PROFESSIONAL INDUSTRY. I75 

action may require; and that everybody else may have all the 
relief they are entitled to in this action according to law and 
according to the decisions of the supreme court made or to be 
made, and that, too, as fully and amply as anybody can here- 
after suggest, and as the plaintiff may hereafter have occasion 
to ask when he sees how this thing works." Nearly a 
quarter of a century later, after both Carpenter and Cleve- 
land had been gathered to their fathers, the suit was revived 
and several judgments were entered; but the matter is still 
pending, and probably Cleveland's grandchildren will not see 
it finally concluded. 

In one of his printed briefs in the Milwaukee & La Crosse 
Railroad cases in the supreme court of the United States, Car- 
penter replied to the advances of his adversary by saying he 
knew of but one possible authority that could be urged in 
support of his claim; and that was the Scriptures, which 
said: " From him who hath not shall be taken away even that 
which he hath; " but added, that never to his knowledge had 
that principle been applied to the rolling-stock of a railroad 

company. 

PROFESSIONAL INDUSTRY. 

Carpenter's industry as a lawyer, judged by all human 
tests, was abreast of the marvelous. His capacity for work 
was unequaled. He passed the most insurmountable diffi- 
culties without demonstration and accomplished the heaviest 
tasks with apparent ease. He shrunk from nothing, never 
complained that the work before him was greater than he 
might wish, never regarded the most cloudy and intricate 
case as beyond reduction to a clear, simple, understandable 
proposition. He held that legal papers should be shorn of 
all useless verbiage and extraneous matter, and that premises, 
statements of fact, the law, authorities, decisions and con- 
clusions should be so simple and palpable that whoever could 
read the English language would be able to understand 
them perfectly. Hence it was that his briefs were every- 
where regarded as models of lucidity and simplicit}'. 

This reputation was earned through a system of unex- 



1^6 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

ampled labor. He searched everywhere for law or decisions 
bearing upon the matter in hand, and brooked no rest until 
hilly satisfied he had found the governing principle, cleared 
it of underbrush and rubbish, and fortified it upon every 
possible point the court or the opposition could raise. He 
thus was without doubt on his feet, and under the frequent 
cross-questionings of the courts, the most unhesitating and 
learned attorney of his time. He bore that reputation, and 
a competent critic has never yet pronounced it undeserved. 
But he enjoyed an enviable fame as an advocate outside of 
the somewhat limited circle of courts and barristers. His 
arguments always drew large popular audiences. He was 
never less than pleasing and instructive to the commonest 
novice, and very frequently his pleas were entrancing or elec- 
trifying. He was always eloquent. Cicero's estimate of 
Mucins ScfEvola might have been pronounced in equal truth 
of Carpenter: "He was the most eloquent among lawyers 
and the best lawyer among men of eloquence." 

METHODS OF LABOR. 

The methods and labor that brought fame thus enviable 
and extended, are interesting and peculiar. In this regard is 
had the testimony of all his surviving partners and associates. 
James Coleman, his last partner, testifies: 

Carpenter's manner of working was different from that of lawyers ordi- 
narily. Instead of having a regular routine of every-day work, coming 
down to the office at nine and working till four, and then leaving everything 
until the next day, he worked at a case steadily day and night until his 
brief was complete. Then he would rest. lie might spend days in appar- 
ently doing no hard work. Yet he would be thinking of the case he had 
on hand, and when everything was ready he did not stop until all he had 
on his mind was committed to paper and in the printer's office. While he 
did not work regularly, he worked more hours in a month or a year than 
any half-dozen lawyers of whom I ever heard. 

Winfield Smith, of Milwaukee, a member of the firm of 
Carpenter & Smiths, brings corroborative evidence: 

His habits of work were irregular. Studious and industrious, he often 
gave his days freely to mere fiiendly chat, and when darkness sent awaj 



METHODS OF LABOR. I 77 

his visitors he would settle down to the serious business of study, which 
often lasted far after midnight. Working with nervous rapidity, he made, 
in a few silent hours, such strides in the preparation of cases as, with other 
men, required days of patient labor. 

A. A, L. Smith, another member of the same firm, goes 
in a slightly different direction: 

The traits of character most noticeable in the office were his thorough 
and vigorous pursuit of anj' investigation he had in hand until he had mas- 
tered and exhausted it; his genial, pleasant manner toward all, no matter 
what errand brought the visitor nor how inopportune the visit; the persist- 
ence and rapidity with which he dispatched business, and above all his 
abounding cheerfulness, by which he made even the most laborious task a 
source of pleasure to whosoever assisted him in its performance. Clear- 
ness, conciseness and accuracy of statement were always sought by him 
both in his own utterances and those of others, and it was frequently his 
practice to point out to those about him any language found in decisions 
under view which excelled in these respects. If the sentence contained an 
important rule of law, it was his practice to commit it to memory. 

Rufus Choate said that " Young Carpenter was possessed 
of a love for devouring books that was more than remark- 
able — it amounted almost to a mania." Judge Geo. W. 
Cate, of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, who was familiar with 
Carpenter's habits in Washington, says: 

People called Matt, brilliant, but they did not know by what exertions 
he became so. No one, except those who were closely connected with him, 
knew of his work. One moment he would be in the senate, and the next 
would be gone. If you had searched for him you would have found him 
in the senate library, the congressional library or in the supreme court 
room. It was a mystery to many what time he found to sleep and rest. 

The venerable Elisha Starr, of Milwaukee, who for many 
years was Carpenter's printer, deposes that a part of the 
bargain of that period was a proviso allowing his patron to 
read all proofs and compare printed with original briefs in 
the night, after the work of the day had been wholly laid 
aside. Mr. Starr alleges that Carpenter almost invariably 
appeared late in the evening to examine his proofs, and 
that he was very particular to know that every citation or 
quotation was absolutely correct. His custom was to bring 
one or two good cigars which were destroyed as the work 



178 * LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

proceeded. He thus could accomplish, Mr. Starr avers, 
more than any other man who ever entered his office. 

Frequently, after attending to office business all day in 
Milwaukee, he would take the cars in the evening for some 
point in the interior of the state, where he had been engaged 
to appear in court on the following morning. It is related 
by numerous railway conductors and employes that on such 
occasions he generally asked for a chair and a desk in the 
baggage car, and having spread before him the books brought 
from the office, would work with marvelous intensity upon 
the cause he was to represent on the morrow, oblivious of 
the rattle of the cars, the crash of incoming and outgoing 
baggage, or the stops and starts of the train, until the journey 
was finished. 

At such times he was regarded by the railway employes 
with deep curiosity. He generally unfastened his coat and 
vest, laid aside his soft crushed hat, and chewed with inces- 
sant rapidity upon an unlighted cigar. If, after working and 
traveling all night in this manner, he could secure one hour's 
rest and sleep at the end of the journey, he was, to all ap- 
pearances, perfectly refreshed, and entered into the business 
and labors of the day with such cheerfulness and overflow- 
ing good humor as with others only succeed a long and 
happy vacation. 

He believed sincerely in the substance of the ancient oath 
of English barristers: "To present nothing to the court in 
falsehood, but to make war for his client;" and often declared 
that he agreed with Lord Brougham that a lawyer's fealty 
to his client was above that to his king. These beliefs car- 
ried him into those long sieges of labor and research in which 
whole libraries were literally devoured for the benefit of 
every client intrusting him with business. 

WORK WITHOUT PAY. 

Perhaps no lawyer of equal or approximate eminence ever 
so successfully escaped the calumny of the charge that he 



WORK WITHOUT PAY. 1 79 

was an extorter of exorbitant fees. Certainly no one was 
ever more deserving of such an escape. He never turned 
away a client because of his poverty, holding that the poor 
were especially entitled to every consideration and advan- 
tage before the courts. They must, he said, depend upon 
judicial tribunals to do for them what the power of wealth 
can generally accomplish for its possessors without the aid 
of judge, jury or attorney, outside of the tantalizing and 
costly delays of legal proceedings. 

" Courts," he once contended before the supreme court of 
Wisconsin, " are the poor man's only safe and sure protec- 
tion ; and as I am a sworn officer of the court, it would be 
my duty, if it were not the impulse of my heart, to prose- 
cute his cause with my best vigor and ability without fee or 
hope of reward. As your honors deal out justice without 
regard to the wealth of your petitioner, so must I, if I re- 
main true to my profession, bestow upon him my professional 
services when his rights or possessions shall fall into jeop- 
ardy, though he hath not a farthing for my fee." A mem- 
ber of the court complimented him for this noble sentiment, 
declaring it not only adorned and elevated him and his pro- 
fession, but " would enrich any system of religion in the 
world." Jeremiah S. Black, dwelling upon this character- 
istic of his dead peer and friend, said: 

His notions of professional ethics were pure and high toned. He never 
acted upon motives of lucre or malice. He would take what might be 
called a bad case, because he thought that every man should have a fair 
trial ; but he would use no falsehood to gain it ; he was true to the court as 
well as to the client. He was the least mercenary of all lawyers ; a large 
proportion of his business was done for nothing. 

He could never turn a deaf ear to the pleadings of pov- 
erty, though often the plea was that of the dissembler and 
scoundrel, against which a demurrer would have been sus- 
tained in any court of equity under the sun. This generos- 
ity amounted to almost a fault. With even those known to 
be in possession of the means for the liquidation of debts, he 



l8o LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

was not always exacting. Hundreds of his earned and ac- 
knowledged fees remain unpaid to this day, because the 
debtor clients pleaded poverty or had suffered misfortune. 

PROFESSIONAL ESTIMATES. 

Some lawyers browbeat witnesses, some abuse and insult 
themj'-some attempt to frighten and others to anger them, 
and others still to lead them, by entangling questions, into 
unintentional misstatements or contradictions about those 
minor details with which the vital parts of a case can always 
be surrounded. These contemptible tricks, which are like 
short weights with the grocer, forgery with the banker, and 
general dishonesty with any business class, were never Car- 
penter's. He was above them, and more successful before 
the jury or the court than any of their votaries. Judge 
MacArthur illustrates Carpenter's ability to expose instead 
of hide the truth, by this reference to cases coming under his 
judicial observation: 

Lord Brout^hnm's cross-examination of the Italian witness in the House 
of Lords, upon the trial of Queen Caroline, has always been regarded as 
one of the greatest master-pieces in the history of English state trials. But 
I am quite sure that I have witnessed an instance of the same kind upon 
the Ottman trial, in this district, for the treasury robbery, in which for two 
days Carpenter conducted the cross-examination of an accomplice used as 
a witness by the government. The wonderful fertility of interrogation that 
was baffled by no evasion, and the patience with which he listened to 
tedious details, and utilized them by dexterous turns of expression and 
quick and unexpected questions, presented his wonderful skill and resources 
in a way which I have never seen approached. In two other instances, I 
have known him, by the mere force of probing the conscience and throw- 
ing the witnesses off their guard, to trace the crimes of forgery and perjury 
to the witnesses themselves, in so clear a manner as to end the prosecutions 
and save his clients. 

While Carpenter always gave expression to his perfect 
respect for the bench, he was essentiall}'^ intolerant, it may be 
said a despiser, of a judge who knew no law. He regarded 
it as an outrage to have such men on the bench, and 
thought them deserving of as little esteem as they possessed 



PROFESSIONAL ESTIMATES. Ibl 

legal learning. In one of the cases brought in behalf of the 
United States treasury for robbery, he plainly intimated that 
one of the judges knew no law, and the imputation was 
meekly borne. 

Said the great English jurist, Lord Coke : " If I am asked 
a question of common law, I should be ashamed if I could 
not immediately answer it; but if I am asked a question of 
statute law, I should be ashamed to answer it without refer- 
ring to the statute book." Carpenter's vast store of legal 
knowledge could not be justly described by Coke's estimate 
of himself. He was familiar not only with the rich princi- 
ples of the common law, but with statutes, constructions and 
decisions generally. 

In 1856, Judge Samuel Ingham, of Connecticut, went out 
to Beloit. He there met Carpenter, of whom he had never 
heard. On his return he said: "I met in Beloit the most re- 
markable young lawyer I ever saw. I have no doubt that 
some day he will be the biggest lawyer in the country. Oh, 
but he is a perfectly immense man." 

When Alexander W. Randall was postmaster-general 
under President Johnson, he received a letter inquiring about 
Carpenter as a lawyer, and returned this beautiful reply: 

I only know him at the bar, summing up the most hopeless and complex 
case with a clear head and comprehensive mind; arranging facts from a 
promiscuous heap, in such admirable order that you comprehend all the 
minuttce; apprehending delicate and intangible facts, and holding them up 
to view; drawing conclusions that startle from the very inflexibility of their 
logic; hurling contempt upon fraud, and calling tears into the eyes of all 
by a peroration as touching and eloquent as a slice of Cicero himself! And 
all in one continuous, unfaltering strain of fluency, unmoved by a momen- 
tary bewilderment, unchecked by adverse ideas, couched in simple words 
that leap from the heart out of his mouth, and, with the impetus of earnest- 
ness, carrying conviction, proof and demonstration to all who listen. 

Lucien B. Caswell, who studied law in Carpenter's office and 
subsequently served in congress with him as a representative 
from Wisconsin, thus sets forth his professional character: 

When I first made his acquaintance he had practiced at his profession 
only two years, but he had already gained a reputation and experience 
seldom enjoyed by others in a half-score of years. He went, as it were, to 



1 82 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

the fountain-head for his law and his style of oratory. When there, he 
imbibed the ambition to rival, at some day, even his instructors. It was the 
pride of his heart to be placed in history by the side of Choate and Webster, 
and I believe, as I have heard him say, while yet a youth, he preferred a single 
feather from the plume those men wore to all the wealth which human 
hands could acquire. When he died he owed nothing to the bench or to 
the bar ; he had not taken from, but had added to, the law. 

This paragraph, from Geo. C. Hazelton, who served with 
Carpenter in congress, is as full of truth as it is of emphasis : 

He became familiar with all the authorities and the principles and prac- 
tice of the civil and common law, with the code and all that pertained to it. 
Such marvelous facility, such strength and practical knowledge had he ac- 
quired in the wide range of his profession, that there was no court of justice 
on earth whose adjudications were in the English language before which he 
could not easily and readily practice. Lawyers who could do this are few in 
any age or any country. As a trial lawyer,few men ever held a keener lance; 
and in the courts of final resort he was welcomed as an oracle of the law. 

David Davis, associate justice of the United States 
supreme court, and United States senator during the most 
brilliant period of Carpenter's career, knew him before the 
days of his national renown. At the memorial services in 
congress he referred to that period pleasantly: 

Carpenter was neither a statesmen nor a politician. He was pre-emi- 
nently a lawyer, who may be said at a single bound to have leaped into 
the front rank of the profession which he loved, and which he honored. 
In another sphere, it was my privilege to have known, long before his na- 
tional fame was achieved, how well he deserved distinction, and how cer- 
tain it was to come with the first opportunity. He had one of the best and 
clearest minds ever known in this country. 

The late Jeremiah S. Black, one of the greatest lawyers 
on the American continent, who loved and was loved by 
Carpenter as a brother, gave him the loftiest niche in the 
pinnacle of professional fame: 

To what height his career might have reached if he had lived and kept 
his health another score of years, can now be only a speculative question. 
But when we think of his great wisdom and his wonderful skill in the fo- 
rensic use of it, together with his other qualities of mind and heart, we can 
not doubt that in his left hand would have been uncounted riches and 
abundant honor, if only length of days had been given to his right. As it 
was, he distanced his contempjraries and became the peer of the greatest 
among those who had started long before him. 



"machine politicians." 183 

CHAPTER XIX. 

A SPRINKLING OF POLITICS 

Those who knew Carpenter bear testimony that he was 
not a politician. There were several reasons why he could 
not be a politician in the popular acceptation of the term. 
He was too much of a lawyer, the honors of his profession 
were too dear to him, he was too far removed from secretive- 
ness and cunning, too outspoken, too frank and too impulsive. 
Yet he was not without ambition. 

He respected the rewards of merit and great achievements 
in all directions, but in earlier life believed they could be 
more certainly attained through the profession of the law — 
by becoming influential before the highest courts and an 
expounder of t^e statutes and commandments of his coun- 
try — than by the devious methods and limitless trickery of 
professional politics. He was, however, always an active 
supporter of the candidates and approved principles of his 
party, and believed it one of the chief duties of citizen- 
ship to be informed in the current affairs of government, and 
to cultivate an interest in the politics which creates and con- 
trols the machinery of government. 

"MACHINE POLITICIANS." 

He was once asked if certain leading men to whom he had 

publicly referred were not " machine politicians," and gave 

this reply, which ought to ring perpetually in the ears of 

every citizen of this republic: 

I don't know as I understand what is meant by a machine politician. It' 
it means one who takes a lively interest in the management and adminis- 
tration of party affairs, attends caucuses and nominating-conventions, and 
endeavors to his utmost to secure the success of his party, then the more 
machine politicians the better. Every man ought to be one. In this 
country the people govern. They make the laws, and make and unmake 
public men. Every one knows that free institutions can only be adminis- 



184 LIFE OF CARI'ENTER. 

tered through political organization ; and every organization implies some 
executive head, because it is impossible for the people en tiia<;sc to execute 
the details of any plan whatever. This is true of every organization known 
among men — from the most powerful government in the world down to 
a village debating society. It is the duty of every citizen to take an inter- 
est and exercise his influence in public affairs, and this he can only do by 
acting in combination with others; or, in common phrase, uniting with 
some political party. He will of course act with that party which most 
nearly represents and executes his sentiments. And then, believing that 
his party is in the right, it is his duty to do every legitimate thing in his 
power to secure its success, because the success of his party promotes that 
line of policy which he regards as best for the interests of the country. 

In the fall of 1848, when Wisconsin, a fresh, new state, 
was first permitted to vote for presidential electors. Car- 
penter addressed a. public gathering in Beloit in advocacy 
of the principles of democracy and the election of Lewis 
Cass. The particular object of the speech was to contro- 
vert certain theories put forth by speakers who had pre- 
viously appeared in Beloit in the interest of Zachary Taylor 
and Martin Van Buren. Those present were astonished at 
the pungency and strength of the young barrister's argu- 
ment and the elegance of his diction. The effort won numer- 
ous friends, even among those who, constituting the majority 
in Beloit, did not agree with his premises or conclusions. 

HIS FIRST OFFICE. 

Having, in 1850, just recovered from blindness, and formed 
a law-partnership with Hazen Cheney, it was suggested 
that Carpenter's business prospects would be benefited by 
becoming a candidate for district attorney of Rock county. 
Such an idea could hardly be otherwise than pleasing to a 
man not yet twenty-six years of age, and he fell in with the 
suggestion. The plan was communicated to the leading 
democrats, and being almost unanimously indorsed, was 
promulgated and supported by the Democratic Standard^ the 
party newspaper organ of the county. 

The convention was held in Janesville on Saturday, Octo- 
ber 19, 1850, with closed doors. Carpenter, a delegate in 



HIS FIRST OFFICE. 185 

the bod}'-, voted against locking out not only reporters but 
the voting masses, as it would afford the opposition press 
such an opportunity to howl " star-chamber " as they would 
not fail to improve. He was voted down, but his predictions 
were amply verified. He was nominated on the first formal 
ballot, and at once entered upon an active canvass, with a 
superabundance of spirit and enthusiasm, circulating through 
the county with great rapidity, and, as the returns show, 
with equal effect. 

Levi Alden, the foremost editor of Rock county in that 
day, accounts for Carpenter's successful canvass : " Matt. 
was a mighty good fellow, as smart as lightning, and the 
best-looking young man in the county. Everybody knew 
him and everybody liked him." There were two other can- 
didates for district attorney in the field — Joseph A. Sleeper 
(whig) and S. A. Hudson (free soil). In Beloit he polled 
two hundred and thirty-six votes, while both the others 
secured only one hundred and seventeen. In the city of 
Janesville the ratio was almost as favorable ; in the towns, 
where he was less known, his majorities were less. 

The office brought him but $300 per year in cash,^ but it 
was worth something as an advertisement. There were not 
many cases in those days for the district attorney, but the few 
that came into his hands were prosecuted with such vigor and 
ability as to win the applause of the press and tax-payers. 

In 1852, Carpenter supported Franklin Pierce, the regular 
democratic nominee for President, making the principal 
address at the great mass-meeting of the Rock county de- 
mocracy, held in Janesville, September 6th. Mr. Warden, 
secretary of the meeting, officially reported: "Mr. Carpen- 
ter answered the enthusiastic call for him by an animated 
strain of eloquence that delighted the audience through the* 
entire address, and fired them with the ardor of his own 
intrepid soul." 

IThe boarJ of supervisors in 1852 passed a resolution granting him $100, 
as the record divulges, for "incidental expenses." 



l86 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Although not a candidate for re-election, he nevertheless 
received about one-third of the votes cast in the democratic 
convention of 1852 for district attorne3% 

THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 

There was held at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, September 
6, 1854, ^ democratic convention for the purpose of nomi- 
nating a candidate for congress in the second district. Car- 
penter was not a delegate to the convention or to any of 
the primaries, though it was said he was responsible for the 
adoption by one of the senatorial conventions of a set of 
semi-anti-slavery resolutions,^ and was the author of them. 
He was present at Mineral Point during the convention, and 
advised that some rank pro-slavery resolutions presented by 
Mr. Rose be laid on the table. As the balloting for candi- 
dates progressed, it was discovered that he had more than a 
respectable following among the delegates, and at one time 
his friends believed he would be nominated. On the 
tenth formal ballot, Ben. C. Eastman, who was finally chosen, 

1 These are the resolutions imputed to Carpenter: 

Rcsoh'cd, That we are in favor of an amendment to the fugitive slave 
law of 1850, giving the right of trial by jury to persons claimed as fugitive 
slaves. 

Resolved, That the democracy of this senatorial district are opposed to 
the action of the congress of the United States in the passage of the Ne- 
braska and Kansas bill, by which the Missouri compromise of 1S20 was re- 
pealed. For the reasons: 

First. That the union of the states was preserved by, and has rested upon, 
that compromise for thirty-four years. 

Second. That it opens to agitation the question of the extension of slav- 
ery, where, by the compromise of 1S20, it could not go. 

Third. That being opposed to an extension of slavery as a moral and 
political evil, it is an outrage on the settled policy of the country to 
open the door by which slavery can enter upon free territory. 

Resolved, That we repudiate the action of the President of the United 
States in opening the agitation of slavery in violation of the resolution of 
the late Baltimore convention, and of the doctrine of his inaugural address 
in putting forward the bill organizing Nebraska and Kansas and truckling 
to the slave power. 

Resolved, That we are opposed to the admission of any more slave terri- 
tory into the Federal Union. 



AGAIN IN OFFICE. 187 

led him by one vote only. He was not a candidate, but was 
present as an opponent of the Kansas-Nebraska act, by 
which territories were to determine for themselves whether 
they would admit slavery. 

AGAIN IN OFFICE. 

The Rock county democratic convention for 1854 ^^^ 
held in Janes ville October nth. Carpenter was a delegate 
in it from Beloit and chairman of the committee on creden- 
tials. He was unanimously nominated for district attorney, 
and in prosecuting his canvass made a speech at Janesville 
" to democrats, republicans and whigs ;" also two or three 
addresses in other parts of the county. The tide of re- 
publicanism, which had just set in, was very strong through 
Wisconsin, and especially in Rock county, and nothing but 
his great personal popularity carried him through. 

The county canvassers at first gave one thousand one 
hundred and nine votes to Carpenter, one thousand one hun- 
dred and nine to G. B. Ely, and seven hundred and eighty-two 
to S. J. Todd, the three candidates for the office, but subse- 
quently threw out the entire vote of the town of Turtle, 
which gave the election to Ely. Carpenter thereupon, on 
relation to the attorney-general of the state, filed an informa- 
tion in the nature of a quo zuarranto with the supreme court. 
The issue, inquiring by what warrant Geo. B. Ely held, used 
and enjoyed the office of district attorney of Rock county, 
was sent to the circuit court for trial. The jury found a 
special verdict declaring the vote of the town of Turtle was 
thrown out without due warrant, that the several votes cast 
for D. M. H., D. H., D. M. and M. T. Carpenter were in- 
tended for Matt. H. Carpenter, that he was duly elected, and 
that Ely was an interloper unlawfully exercising the functions 
of district attorney. On appeal by Ely to the supreme court 
this judgment was affirmed. Carpenter drew a full term's 
pay for a half-term's service. 

With this litifration a curious circumstance is connected. 



l88 LIFE OF CARPENTKR. 

Ely had received the certificate of election, filed his bond and 
taken the oath of office. To secure a judgment of ouster 
Carpenter must go behind this certificate. At the same time 
another, more important, case was pending. W. A. Barstow, 
democrat, had received his certificate of election as governor. 
Coles Bashford, his opponent, had filed an information to 
inquire by what right Barstow was holding the office. Car- 
penter was engaged as one of Barstow's attorneys, and, to 
protect his client in office, was compelled to argue that the 
court could not go behind the certificate of the proper can- 
vassing-board. In his own case he was contending that the 
court must do exactly the opposite. The court held that it 
was proper and competent to go behind the certificate, thus 
installing Carpenter but ousting his client, Barstow. 

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 

In October, 1856, Carpenter was unanimously re-nominated 
for district attorney, but promptly declined, in the following 
characteristic letter: 

Beloit, Oct. 23, 1S56. 

To the Democrats oj Rock County: 

I am equally flattered and honored by having received from your late 
county convention a nomination for reelection to the office of district at- 
torney. I may regard it as an evidence of your continuing confidence, to 
which I could never be indifferent. 

This ofiice now requires that whoever would perform its duties should be 
able to cope with the best ot our lawyers ; should be efficient and persever- 
ing as a business man; and above all, firm and independent in exercising 
the powers reposed in him. 

In view of the importance of the position, it is an honor to receive your 
support for it. But I have already held the office two terms. I am a dem- 
ocrat, and as such, in favor of rotation, purtiriilarly, when, as in this case, 
the event is inevitable. You will, therefore, please accept my thanks, and 
consider me out of the ring. Very respectfully, 

Matt. II. Carpenter. 

Carpenter could see that the republicans would sweep 
everything, as they subsequently did ; hence the humor of the 
concluding lines. But before this declension was penned he 



MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 189 

had made another. A large number of the leading demo- 
crats of Iowa, La Fayette and Grant counties united in a 
letter asking him to permit the use of his name in the next 
democratic congressional convention to be held at Mineral 
Point for the second district. He replied- 

Beloit, June 26, 1856. 
Hon. Samuel Crawford and others : 

Gentlemen — I have received jour communication requesting that my 
name may be presented by you to our convention i'or nomination to tlie 
next congress. I am sensible of the honor done me by your request, and 
am grateful for the expressions of regard accompanying it. 

Proud as I should be to receive your support; prouder still to represent 
you, and all the true and gallant-hearted democracy of this district in con- 
gress, a just regard to my own circumstances and to the claims of others 
upon me, says to ambition, "^e still; " and omnipotent poverty commands, 
'■'■ decline l'^ 

You are pleased to say I could strengthen the ticket. This is the partial- 
ity of friendship. There are doubtless many who would receive greater 
support. Our chief opposition will be in this county; and I have so often 
and so warmly combated the errors of the prevailing party, that they 
would feel at my nomination that fortune had given their ancient Joe into 
their power, and th:-y would rally to a great revenge. 

While I decline, I need hardly say that any aid in my power will be most 
cheerfully rendered to our candidate. ****** 

We have fallen upon stormy times. The sharp sorrows that softened the 
hearts of our fathers, and led them in a spirit of concession and compro- 
mise to form a government to be clothed wiih only such powers as con- 
cerned all the states alike, have given place to a prosperity unknown to the 
nation. We are rich and powerful ; unforgiving and uncharitable; and our 
prosperity threatens to be our ruin. Could Washington have seen our 
days and our dangers, as the prophetic eye of Moses read the destiny of the 
people he had led to Jordan's rippling stream, he could have warned us in 
language not unlike that of the Jewish lawgiver : "Beware. * * * 
When thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses and dwelt 
therein ; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and 
thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied, then thine heart be 
lifted up, and thou forget " the union and charity that brought thee through 
tribulation and blood to peace and power. 

All confess that our country is in danger; all acknowledge the duty of 
preserving it from every danger, and to do this, while the ship of state is 
tossed by the billows of faction, our chart must be the constitution, our 
motto, " our xvltole country." 



ipO LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

We have been eminently fortunate in the selection of our presidential 
candidate, and offer along with principles that are indispensable to the 
existence of the republic, a champion known to the whole country as a 
statesman intelligent, conservative and honest; and to doubt his success 
were to lose faith in the intelligence of the people and their devotion to 
the land, and the ivkole land of Washington. 

• Very respectfully yours. 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 

Carpenter could see there was no hope for the election of 
the democratic candidate in his district, whoever he might be. 
Otherwise, no doubt, he would have accepted a nomination. 
There is foresight in the preceding letter. Its writer feared 
the south had ample power to destroy the Union, and would 
not hesitate to do it if sufficiently exasperated. The leaders 
of that section had threatened disunion if Fremont should 
be elected and an attempt be made to carry out the princi- 
ples he represented. Carpenter thought the Union with 
slavery as permitted by the constitution preferable to dis- 
meinberment, fratricidal strife and governmental chaos. 

His reference to the ruin threatened by prosperity was 
more than an ordinary prophecy. It was literally fulfilled. 
The slave power, swollen with wealtli, grew in arrogance 
until its leaders imagined nothing could stand before them. 
Then came the earthquakes and the tornadoes of the Rebell- 
ion. As the contest progressed, many things developed as 
the policy of the southern democracy that Carpenter could 
not indorse. He said *' the south was overreaching itself, 
the northern democrats were entirely submerged, and he had 
little heart in the battle." He only delivered one regular 
address during the campaign, and that, as the newspapers 
of the day reported, was "just such a speech.as a lawyer with 
an exceedingly bad case would be expected to make." 

DODGING THE FLOOD. 

On October 24, 1857, the democratic senatorial convention 
for the district in which Carpenter resided gave him the 
nomination. He declined in the following odd letter: 



STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. I9I 

Beloit, Oct. 25, 1S57. 
To the Democracy of the iSth Senatorial District : 

I am told by returning delegates from the senatorial convention, held at 
Johnstown, on the 24th instant, that mj name was put in nomination as 
democratic candidate for senator in the next legislature. 

Nothing can be more gratifying to me at any time than the slightest ap- 
probation of my democratic friends, and I duly appreciate this mark ot the 
convention's esteem. If this nomination were a mere matter of form and 
my name needed to keep up party organization, I should not object. But 
knowing that my election -would be inevitable if I should run, and as my 
business will not permit me to be in Madison this winter, I deem it my duty 
to decline. 

There is another reason why I would not allow myself to be elected 
senator to the next legislature. I expect the whole " Shanghai " party will 
be tried on impeachment before the next senate, and I am conscious of so 
much prejudice against them that I could not, with propriety, sit as one of 
their judges. Very respectfully. 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 

This letter was facetious. Its writer distinctly saw the 
approaching tidal wave of republicanism (" Shanghaism ") 
and shrewdly kept out of its path. Dr. Alden I. Bennett, 
the republican nominee for state senator in that district, re- 
ceived one thousand and seventy majority. Anticipating such 
a result. Carpenter gayly wrote that if he should run his elec-- 
tion " would be inevitable." 

STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 

Carpenter was always ah admirer of Stephen A. Doug- 
las. He regarded the " Little Giant " as a far-sighted 
statesman, an able lawyer, and above all a ma^i who, though 
he might, as all mortals do, fall into occasional errors of pol- 
icy and method, was nevertheless desirous of doing that 
which would most broaden, strengthen and glorify the re- 
public. Entertaining, in addition to these views, a strong 
personal friendship for the man, a favored son, like himself, 
of the " Green Mountain State," he rejoiced when Douglas 
received the democratic nomination for the presidency in 
i860. 

He thought no other democrat could avert civil war or 



192 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

postpone its frightful advance — for there were none so blind 
they could not plainly discern the gathering storm. There- 
fore, while appealing to all to vote for Douglas as the only 
hope of averting an armed effort at governmental dismember- 
ment, he directed his efforts principally to mollifying the spirit 
of rebellion, warning his fellow democrats that an insurrec- 
tion against the old flag for no better reason than the election 
of Lincoln, would solidify the free states — arouse the sturdy 
north to strike as one man to preserve from dishonor the sa- 
cred blood of Yorktown and New Orleans. 

Without consulting his wishes, the democratic state central 
committee announced several addresses from him. Most of 
these he refused to fulfill. He was advertised by flaming 
posters to address a " grand mass-meeting at JNIadison," but 
failed to appear, and the occasion was thereafter dilated upon 
b}'- the republican press as the " Mammoth Cave at Madi- 
son." At Watertown, on Monday evening preceding the day 
of election, he addressed a large meeting. He pleaded for 
the election of Douglas, but closed by warning his audience 
that, if the democrats of the south should, in the event of 
Lincoln's election, attempt to leave the Union and set up a 
slave empire, he " hoped to be the first man to raise a musket 
in resistance, and should expect to see every northern demo- 
crat by his side, ready to fight for the banner and the Union 
of our fathers." This portion of his speech did not meet the 
unqualified approval of his hearers. Lincoln was elected, as 
he expected, and war came, as he predicted. 



COUNTRY, NOT PARTY — REBELLION. I93 

CHAPTER XX. 

COUNTRY, NOT PARTY - REBELLION. 

It was at the outbreak of the great war of the Rebellion 
that Carpenter rose highest above party fealty, proclaiming 
that, when the republic was in danger, there could, by no 
possibility, be more than one party among patriotic men — 
all must be on the side of their country. It was then that 
his patriotism and love for the Union became most conspicu- 
ous — shone like a beacon, steady, bright and clear, far above 
the doubts, deflections, waverings, cowardice, sedition and 
stormy turmoil around him, guiding thousands safely into the 
harbor of Union and loyalty who otherwise would have been 
wrecked and lost amidst the surrounding dangers. 

When the hosts of the Rebellion dashed up from the south, 
democrat though he professed to be. Carpenter was the first 
man of note in the northwest to publicly raise his voice in 
support of the government, arousing the people as no other 
had ever before aroused them. He defended and supported 
the war measures of the administration, maintaining with 
matchless power and thrilling eloquence that the govern- 
ment, like a human being, had the inalienable right to self- 
preservation, and that all measures of self-defense, whatso- 
ever their nature, must, in the very nature of things, be right 
and lawful. 

This clear and simple doctrine gathered at once the scat- 
tering doubters of the republican party, won over the patri- 
otic Union men of the democracy, dismayed those who were 
arraying themselves on the side of the rebellious and seced- 
ing south, and made Carpenter the Moses, the war oracle of 
his state. Not only that, but it gave him a hold upon the 
heart and affection of the people, which was never destroyed 
by all the subsequent attack and detraction of political oppO' 
sition. 

13 



194 lAFE OF CARPENTER. 

THE FIRST GUN. 

His first speech in behalf of the Union was delivered in 
Milwaukee on the 19th of April, 1861, on the occasion of 
formally raising the stars and stripes over the chamber of 
commerce building. There were not many flags in the 
country at the time General Beauregard fired upon Fort 
Sumter, and none in Milwaukee for public buildings. The 
commander of the revenue cutter then lying in the harbor 
sent its colors to be run up over the custom-house tempo- 
rarily, and the members of the chamber of commerce voted 
to purchase a fine national banner for the flag-staff on their 
building. William Young begged the committee appointed 
for that purpose to make no purchase, as he desired to pre- 
sent to the chamber a fine set of colors. The offer was ac- 
cepted, and on the following day, April 19th, the glowing folds 
of the silken banner were thrown to the breeze in the midst 
of a vast concourse of people and such enthusiasm and dem- 
onstrations of patriotism as no pen or tongue can describe. 
Carpenter delivered the dedicatory speech. 

Unfortunately nothing like a complete or accurate record 
of his utterances was made. It was not a time for record or 
details. It was a time for action. No man could curb his 
rising passions for speech-writing; he must have the freedom 
born of and demanded by tlie inspiring greatness of the oc- 
casion. He opened the address as follows: 

Nearly forty years of profound public tranquillity have passed over and 
blessed our land. We have forgotten to use the weapons of war and have 
cultivate 1 the arts of peace. We have engrossed our thoughts and enlisted 
our hearts in the pursuits of agriculture, manufactures and commerce, and 
in advancing the arts and sciences must useful to man. No nation has been 
»o blessed — none has so prospered. While we have been thus improving 
all our mutual interests, amassing wealth at hoine and accumulating honors 
abroad, other nations have been vexed and worried with the " dogs of war;" 
the war cloud has darkened the sunny sky of Italy; armies have trampled 
the vine-clad fields of F'rance, and the recruiting drum has been heard on 
the green hills and in the sweet valleys of merry England. It has seemed 
that we alone were to be .exempt from the terrible calamities which have 



THE FIRST GUN. , I95 

desolated the hearth and wrung the heart in other lands^ Our remote sit- 
uation, the circumstances of our nationality, and the habits of our people, and 
above all, our reverence for the hereditary policy of our country, seemed 
sufficient to insure our continued peace and prosperity. But now, when we 
were least looking for it, our trial has come. Prosperity has debauched 
our people and corrupted our government. We have grown rich, have 
waxed fat; and as a nation have become proud and wicked. 

" Swinish gluttony 

Ne'er looks to heaven amid his gorgeous feast, 
But with besotted, base ingratitude, 
Ci"ams, and blasphemes his feeder.' 

With everything to fill the hearts of the American people with thanks 
to God and love toward each other, God has been forgotten and brother 
is in arms against brother. The union of these states, to accomplish 
which our fathers sacrificed so much, and which has been rendered sacred, 
as the nation thought, by the efforts of statesmen of all grades of intellect 
and every shade of political sentiment to preserve and protect, the Union 
is menaced with sacrilegious violence; and armies are marching on Amer- 
ican soil to destroy our country; and our country's flag has been displaced 
on the battlements of a national fortress for the treasonable banner that 
flouts the southern breeze. 

To quiet this unholy Rebellion, to avenge this unendurable insult to our 
national flag, our people are rising as one man; and every man feels in- 
sulted by this insult to his country. 

Secession is not a remedy for evils, but is the sum of all evils; it 
is a heresy that must be drowned in blood ; it can not be reasoned 
down; and much as we all do and must regret it, there is but one of 
two things left us — we must crush it or it will crush us. Such is the state 
of feeling in the south, that nothing but the sword can remedy it; and it 
becomes our duty, as good citizens and Christian men, to prosecute this war 
so effectually, and end it so speedily, that secession shall know no resurrec- 
tion. The sovith, once more reduced to obedience, may ask an amendment 
to the constitution, which we may grant. In my opinion the constitution 
of the so-called Southern Confederacy has many valuable improvements 
upon ours; but until this theory of secession is extirpated, of what value 
is any constitution .'' It is but a contract to bind one side — it binds the faith- 
ful and obedient, but lays no obligation upon the mischievous and trait- 
orous. Suppose in a reconstruction of the Union, as some talk about it, 
it were expressed in the new constitution that no state should secede Avithout 
consent of two-thirds of the other states. A sovereign state may as well 
secede from such a government as from any other. No constitution can be 
formed which, with this theory admitted, can bind an unwilling state. 
This creed is the lion in the path of our future progress as a nation, and we 
must destroy it or it will devour us. And no expenditure of blood or 



196 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

treasure should )fe spared to accomplish this result Our prosperity is 
checked; our bright prospects as a nation darkened; we must pass through 
rivers of blood before we again repose in peaceful fields. 

When the end drew near, he turned his glowing face, 

lighted by unusual fires, and stretched his hands toward the 

glorious emblem above him and cried: 

We hang out our banner — no dusty rag representing the twilight of 
seven stars, but the old banner that has floated triumphantly in every 
breeze, the banner Decatur unfurled to the Barbary States, tliat Jackson 
held over New Orleans, that Scott carried to the hall of Montezumas — 
and thereby we mean to say, in no spirit of defiance, but with the firmness 
of manly resolution, this flag shall wave while an American lives to pro- 
tect it. And God grant it may float over a peaceful land long after the 
followers of the seven fallen stars shall have hung on gibbets or rotted in 
dungeons. 

No one can read these words, patriotic and stirring as they 
are in themselves, and form a conception of how they 
throbbed and burned under the marvelous power of Carpen- 
ter's earnest eloquence, or how they lifted the vast concourse 
of people to the highest tense of patriotism, and then swept 
them, like the sea by a storm, into a tumult of wild enthusi- 
asm. No one who was present ever forgot the occasion, or 
how Carpenter's magic words carried all to that point where 
they were ready to devote any sacrifice to their country. 

On Monday, April 15th — four days before the delivery of 
this address — an informal war meeting was held in Milwau- 
kee at which brief remarks were made by a score of leading 
citizens. Carpenter was absent from the city, having gone 
to Walworth county upon legal business; but he sent this 
telegram, quoting from Richard III before the decisive bat- 
tle of Bos worth field: "I was unable to leave here to-day, 
but I am with you in spirit. ' My soul's in arms and eager 
for the fray.' " 

On his way from Walworth county the train halted at 
Waukesha. A crowd at the depot, observing Carpenter, 
demanded a speech. He appeared on the platform and said: 

Now tiiat war is begun, push it to the bitter end. Let nothing be left 
undone. Strike your blows thick and fast; I«ave nothing to chance. The 



WELCOMING THE MINUTE-MEN. I97 

only farfies are unionists and disunionists. I belong to the former, 
thank God. All others are my enemies, and the enemies of our common 
country. We must fight them, not only abroad but at home. 

WELCOMING THE MINUTE-MEN. 

Thereafter, in private conversation, by interjections in his 
legal arguments before the courts, and in every possible man- 
ner, Carpenter made his influence felt in favor of the admin- 
istration and the Union. His most particular efforts were 
directed toward wavering democrats, with whom he pleaded: 
" There is no democracy now ; no true patriot can cling to 
the tenets of his party when his country is in danger. We 
must all be for the Union." Whilst thus engaged in a pri- 
vate manner in strengthening the federal cause, there arose 
no occasion for any other public speech until the return of 
the First Wisconsin regiment. 

At about noon on Saturday, August 17, 1861, forty coach- 
loads of the first soldiers who left Wisconsin for the war 
(ninety-day men) were welcomed home to Milwaukee by 
the firing of cannons, a monster procession, a speech from 
Carpenter and a grand banquet spread by the ladies. All 
business was suspended, and the surrounding country poured 
in thousands of visitors. The city was crowded with peo- 
ple eager to do homage to their country's defenders. After 
the parade, the soldiers and their friends repaired to Camp 
Scott, where Carpenter delivered the welcoming address. 
In it he advocated freeing or capturing the slaves, and 
aroused the democracy. A few extracts should be quoted: 

I come in behalf of the loyal and patriotic people of Milwaukee to welcome 
home the First Wisconsin regunent. 

Called by the President of the United States to defend the menaced 
government under which we were born, and under which God grant we 
and our children may live and die, you cheerfuly, almost instantly, laid 
aside the profitable pursuits of private life, left business to take care of it- 
self, bade farewell to home and friends, and hastened to throw yourselves 
between our country and its traitorous assailants. You knew very well 
that the holiday of soldiering was over, that you were invited to no frolic 
feast, no national pageant; but to the field where Americans would contend 



ipS LIFE OF CARPENTER- 

with Amcric ins in a nobler, holier cause than ever marshaled Greek 
against Greek. 

But with the joy and pride of this occasion there mingles the chastening 
sorrow that jou are not all here. Some who went forth have not returned. 
George Drake is mustered with the hosts that learn war no more; and his 
poor mother has learned that even widowhood can be rendered more cheer- 
less and desolate. With a grief which only a mother can know, we maj 
not interfere; but we can offer to her the consolation that of old soothed 
the hearts of the Roman matrons, her son fell -with his face to the foe. 
And when the turmoils of this wicked Rebellion shall have subsided, the 
people of Wisconsin ought to rear a monument of marble to George Drake, 
her first martyr in the war we are waging for national existence. 

In this interval between the return of the First and the departure of the 
Seventh and Eighth Wisconsin regiments, we naturally pause and ask our- 
selves, what are the ends and aims of this war? Is it a war fought for par- 
tisan purposes, for private and selfish ends? or, is it a war for God, our 
country and truth? If in this struggle we fall, do we fall ^^ blessed martyrs" 
or do we fall the just victims of an unholy ambition? 

This is an important question; and we ought to examine the matter hon- 
estly and thoroughly. Patriots may say, "Our country, right or wrong; " 
but in this enlightened age the moral force necessary to success is in the 
thought that our country is right. 

This a question above all party politics. We should forget that we were 
ever separated by party lines. In this emergency we are all republicans, 
all democrats, all Americans. Perish every party distinction, watch-word 
and organization, save live our country! 

We are struggling, fighting, dying, to maintain the government our 
fathers established for themselves and their posterity forever. 

And all this for what? and why? Because slavery is sick with surfeit- 
ing, and pants for fresh fields for her ambitious schemes. Tolerated, yes 
protected, by the constitution as an existing evil too deep for immediate 
eradication, slavery has grown deeper and deeper in its foundations, and 
higher and higher in its pretensions, undermining the strength and sapping 
the power of the constitution, until at length it feels itself stronger than 
the government, and turns its destructive and poisonous fangs upon the 
constitution under which it has grown to such fearful greatness. This 
black specimen of the reptile genus, warmed into life in our bosoms, now 
rears its scaly crest to wage a war, in which it may be that it or we must 
perish. 

The Revolution could have been stifled at its b'rth by a very little grace- 
ful concession on the part of the British crown. The colonies sought only 
for a redress of grievances, and would gladly have accepted such favor and 
returned to their obedience. This the crown denied; and the colonies 
could not win the result they contended for without shaking the power of 



PARTY VS. PATRIOTISM. 



199 



the mother country to its foundation. Before the colonies had achieved the 
long-sought-for redress of grievances they had achieved their total inde- 
pendence. Can the south learn nothing from the lessons of history? Or 
has God decreed the destruction of slavery, and does he purpose to accom- 
plish it through the folly and madness of slave-holders? 

If the south expects that we are much longer to fight this war with kid 
gloves, much longer to send armies to the south strictly watched to see 
they do not muc/i injure the south, she is sadly mistaken. The powers that 
be may say so; wish so; but the rising determination of the north, the ab- 
solute, imperious necessities of self-existence, are impelling things forward, 
where secretaries of war and smooih-faced officials can not stop the course 
of events by crying, "Respect all the rights of southern property." 

If this state of things shall be long continued on the part of the south, 
armies will march in that direction with the express purpose of injuring 
the south. This Rebellion was not begun in sti-ict conformity with the con- 
stitution, and the south may find that there is an unconstitutional way to 
suppress it. The south is carrying on a war that violates every principle 
of gratitude and of fealty, every oath and sanction of religion, and yet calls 
out to the north, " Now, remember your Christian principles; remember 
your oath to support the constitution, and protect our rights;" but the 
south may find that, like the Methodist in the fight, ive, too, have fallen 
from grace. ****«**» 

Liberty is involved in this struggle. This last, best effort of self-govern- 
ment must not perish thus. But we have work, ivork before us. South- 
erners are not Mexicans, will not run at a yell — they, too, are American* 
and have Washington among their fathers. They are foemen worthy of our 
steel, and foes that richly deserve our steel. 

This speech was enthusiastically received by the soldiersy 
and General John A. Starkweather, their commander, said it 
was the means of securing a large number of re-enlistments 
that he thought would otherwise have been lost. That is a. 
tribute that can not often be paid to the power of oratory. 

PARTY vs. PATRIOTISM. 

But the copperheads of Wisconsin spewed out the speech 
and reviled its author. They attacked Carpenter through 
the columns of the press and by private letters. Some of 
the ultra newspapers formally read him out of the democratic 
party, and leading democrats wrote to him that he was de- 



2O0 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

stroying democracy. To one distinguished protester, Isaac 
Woodle, of Janesville, he made this memorable reply 

Milwaukee, Sept. 2, 1861 
Isaac Woodle : 

Dear Sir — I liave received jour favor in regard to my speech to the 
First regiment, and have read it with great surprise. Nothing could pain 
me more than to learn that the sentiments and opinions there expressed 
separate me in the least degree from the democratic party. Especially 
should I regret to have my political friends in Rock county think I have 
abandoned one principle for which we have contended ; and I am per- 
suaded that a little reflection will satisfy you and them tliat such is not 
the case. 

The first principle of democracy has been, and is, devotion to our whole 
country and fidelity to the constitution of the United States in every par- 
ticular. Compared with this all other things are to be held as naught; and 
6ven the organization of the democratic party — a party that has shown 
itself capable of administering the general government, because it has ever 
sympathized with the principles on which it is founded — should be cheer- 
fully abandoned for the pi'esent, if that be necessary, to preserve intact the 
government our fathers constructed for us. The sorrovvi..g song of Judea 
is the language of every true patriot " remembering " his native land: 

" Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth 
If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." 

You say some of my friends think that my speech verges upon repub- 
licanism, not to say abolitionism, in the method it hints at for prosecuting 
the war. This remark shows, does it not, that we are still thinking of party, 
when we should be thinking only of country. The question is not whether 
a certain line of conduct will please an abolitionist, but ivhcther it zvill save 
the government. No two men can differ upon this proposition, that we have 
a terrible war upon our hands. Hotvare ive to manage it? I do hope that 
in this terrible crisis of our country the democrats will be found, as they 
have been, on the side of their country against all assailants; they must 
not hesitate, not falter, for ruin will be the consequence. We must say of 
whoever is for upholding the constitution and preserving this union of 
states against open and secret enemies, he is my brother. We must look 
this war honestly in the face. We can not protect ourselves and save our 
country with cunning tricks, nor suppress this insurrection with a false- 
hood. We must strike home to the rebels; hit them on their tenderest 
«pot. 

But it may be asked, how can a democrat, who through all the last cam- 
paign opposed Lincoln upon the ground that his election would plunge the 



PARTY VS. PATRIOTISM. 20I 

country into war, now counsel a conduct of the war that most delights these 
very republicans who have provoked it? 

This question is, to my mind, very easily answered. In the last campaign 
■we all believed that the people of the south were honest in professmg their 
fear for the safety of slavery if Lincoln should be elected, and that, if so ex- 
asperated, they would take up arms. It is perhaps nnpossible to determine, 
and it is immaterial, whether the south was honest in that pretense or not. 
It must be confessed that there are many reasons for believing that the 
southern leaders desired a dissolution of the Union upon other grounds, and 
that they would have made the eftbrt of treason if Lincoln had been de- 
feated. Their treatment of Douglas at Charleston, their conduct in the 
campaign, their undisguised preference for Lincoln's election over Douglas, 
can be explained upon no other hypothesis. The northern democrats 
treated the south as a father does a sickly son. We sought to avoid a row; 
we did not think the election of Lincoln would justify the south in rebel- 
ling, but we feared it would have that effect. Therefore we sought to avoid 
the struggle by preventing what we feared would cause it. We labored 
faithfully, but were defeated, and the influence of the south tended to that 
result. We were defeated in consequence of our fidelity to what we be- 
lieved the just rights of the south, under the constitution; and the south, 
■which might by constitutional means have rendered Mr. Lincoln's admin, 
istration powerless tor harm, scorned peaceful security, and flew to arms. 
A more disgraceful act of ingratitude is not recorded in history. The 
democrats of the north had for years defended southern rights, at the ex- 
pense of popularity and place at home ; we had, for adhering to their cause, 
been driven from office in every northern state; and the first time that the 
consequence of then- conduct was visited upon them, as well as upon us, they 
tebelled. Northern democrats then firmly resolved that the Rebellion should 
be put down, and the governmcut sustained. 

Did we mean what we said, or not.-" I take it ive did. If so, all the old 
issues are to be forgotten. We must " leave the dead past to bury its dead ; " 
and we have but one question before us now: How can this Rebellion be most 
speedily and most effectually crushed.' We have nothing to do with repub- 
licanism or abolitionism ; we have simply to choose the readiest means to 
a wished-for end. 

Mr. Secretary Smith in a recent speech says: 

"The theory of this government is that the states are sovereign within 
their proper sphere. The government of the United States has no 
More right to interfere with the institution of slavery in South 
Carolina, than it has to interfere with the peculiar institutions of Rhode 
Island, whose benefits I have enjoyed to-day. It is not the province of the 
government of the United States to enter into a crusade against the institution 
of slavery. I -would proclaim to the people of all the states of the Union the 
right to manage their institutions in their own way^ 



202 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Well, to every word of this, of course, everybody subscribes. But does 
Mr. Smith tliink that he solves the great question that lies at the gate of 
the government by these trite commonplaces? It is not the province of the 
government to enter into a crusade against slavery ; but I take it to be the 
undoubted province of the government to maintain its authority in every 
state by any and all necessary means; and when a state is in rebellion, to 
reduce it to obedience in the most summary way ; and if this can only be 
done by sweeping away slavery, then it is the province of this government 
and its bounden duty to sweep slavery azvay. 

The most favorable view of the matter is to treat the south as an inde- 
pendent power at war with us. This the revolted states claim to be, and 
they ought to thank us for treating them accordingly. And everybody 
knows that if such were the case we should be justified by the laws of na- 
tions in despoiling them of their property ; and at the south slaves are prop- 
erty. Grotius (the father of international law) says, book 3, chapter 5, sec- 
tion I (edited by Whewellj : " Cicero says it is not against nature to despoil 
him whom it is honorable to kill. Wherefore, it is not to be wondered at, 
if the laws of nations permit the property of enemies to be destroyed and 
ravaged, when it has permitted them to be killed. Polybius says that by 
the laws of war all munitions of the enemy, ports, cities, men, ships, fruits, 
and everything of like kind, may be either plundered or destroyed. And 
in Livy we read : There are certain rights of -war which may be exercised and 
must be submitted to; as to burn crops, to destroy buildings, to drive off 
hooiy oi cattle and men." Again, in book 3, chapter 6, he speaks ^^ of the 
right of acquiring things captured in ivar." Section 5, he says : " Those 
things are supposed to be taken from the enemy which are taken trom his 
subjects." Burlamaqui, volume 2, chapter 7, says: " i. As to the goods of 
an enemy, it is certain that the state of war permits us to carry them off, to 
ravage, to spoil, or even entirely to destroy them." Again, section 2 : " This 
right of spoil or plunder extends in general to all things belonging to the 
enemy, and the law of nations, properly so-called, does not exempt even 
sacred things.'''' This last quotation, ^^ sacred things," embraces precisely 
what some seem to think slavery is. 

This is the undoubted law of nations, and is daily acted on by inde- 
pendent powers at war with each other. I am not aware that it has ever 
been claimed for rebels that they were entitled to a more tender treatment 
than the law of nations prescribes to public enemies. 

The first diplomatic note addressed by this government to any foreign 
power, written by Thomas Jefferson, complained that the British army had 
carried away slaves belonging to the inhabitants of the United Slates; not 
that the carrying away 0/ slaves 'uas an improper act of zi'ar, but that they 
had been carried away after the treaty of peace had been signed, and in 
direct violation of the 7th article of that treaty. Not only would the gov- 
ernment be justified in capturing slaves in the south, but by the familiar 



PARTY VS. PATRIOTISM. 203 

principles of national law they are contraband of war; in which (if the 
slave-trade were lawful) neutrals could not traffic with the south. Articles 
peculiarly subservient to war, without which the enemy could not carry on 
the war, or wliich enable him to carry it on at great advantage over his an- 
tagonist, are contraband. See Vattel, Law of Nations, book 3, chapter 7, sec- 
tion 112, and Bynkershock on War, chapter lo. 

Now, whether slaves are subservient to war, and put the south on a su- 
perior footing to us, let the south speak for herself 1 

The method heretofore employed in prosecuting this war has carried to 
every secessionist a home market for whatever our troops have needed in 
that state. We have paid twice its value in coin for everything, including 
damages for trampling down crops. The coin we pay out is instantly ex- 
changed for Southern Confederacy bonds, and finds its way into the treas- 
ury of secession, to equip rebel armies. They can stand such a war easier 
than we can, and perhaps longer. The war has been a source of profit to 
the rebels, and expense only to the loyals. 

The wickedness of this revolt has no parallel; and the government 
would be justified in employing the most stringent means to suppress it. 
It has coaxed and caressed long enough to see that the people of the south 
are not inclined to lay down their arms as a matter of politeness. No ap- 
peal to their reason, their justice or their loyalty can avail, for they seem to 
have neither. Now let them be pursued and himted with fire and sword, 
with halter and confiscation, until they return to their obedience to the con- 
stitution and the laws, and then, and not before, can they claim to hold 
their slaves under the constitution. 

When they permit peace, they can claim the rights of peace ; but they 
can not insist that we shall guaranty to them all the benefits of peace 
while they are visiting upon us all the horrors of war. Suppose we march 
an army into the rebel states, and capture slaves, who is to complain of it.^ 
The loyal states ivill not; the rebel states can not. They have forced a state of 
war upon us, and now must take the legitimate consequences, one of which 
I have shown this to be. The right of the master to hold his slave under 
the constitution is admitted as a civil right; but when he throws off the 
constitution and levies war against it, how absurd it is to say that he may, 
nevertheless, turn the constitution against itself, and make it protect him 

1 Reference is had to the Alabama Advertiser, which declared : " The in- 
stitution of slavery in the south alone enables her to place in the field a 
force much larger in proportion to her white population than the north, or 
indeed, than any country which is dependent entirely on free labor. The 
institution is a tower of strength to the south, particularly in the present 
griefs, and our enemies will be likely to find that the ' moral cancer,' about 
which their orators are so fond of prating, is really one of the tnost elective- 
"Weapons employed against them by the south" 



204 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

tvhile he drsffO)'s tt. This makes the constitution give aid and comfort to 
its own enemies; makes it contribute to its own destruction. 

The cry of our northern press, tliat this war must be so fought as to respect 
the rights which southern citizens would enjoy under the constitution if they 
were at peace with it, is treason. It is giving aid and comfort to the enemies 
of our country. Enemies, not in a very rhetorical sense, as we bandy 
•words on the stump, but enemies in arms, and wiiose artillery is trained on 
the federal capitol. Every word spoken to protect tlie rights of a rebel is 
a word spoken to weaken the government by narrowmg the means which 
the government has of reducing him to obedience. I must confess I am 
tired and sick of it ; and if I can not denoimce it inside the democratic party, 
/ am ready to go out. 

It is said this will drive Kentucky out of the Union. Kentucky's greatest 
living son,l in a recent speech in Boston, says: 

" Fellow-citizens, I am gratified to say that during the somewhat extended 
tour that I have just made, I have nowhere found the public voice faint, or 
the public purpose faltering, in reference to the vigorous prosecution of this 
war, until the stars and stripes shall float from every flag-staff from which 
they have been torn. Nowhere have I heard the word compromise — a 
■word which can now be uttered only by disloyal lips, or by those openly and 
direct!}' in the interests of the Rebellion. So long as the rebels have arms in 
their hands, there is nothing to compromise — nothing but the honor of the 
country, and the integrity of the government; and who, but him who is 
ready to fill a coward's grave, is prepared for such humiliation as this."*" 

How favorably the loyal language of this eloquent extract contrasts with 
the halting, fault-finding, treason-aiding tone of a portion of the northern 
press. If such are the sentiments of Kentucky, then she will not go out 
of the Union because the government distinguishes between it-; friends and 
its foes. If, on the other hand, Kentucky is disloyal and rotten, is hjpo- 
critically remaining in the Union as Virginia did, till she was smoked out, for 
the purpose of controlling the policy of the government for the benefit of 
southern traitors, then the quicker she goes the better; we should have less 
to fear from her as an open enemy than as a false friend. 

Pardon so long a letter, but I could not more briefly discuss the matter. 
I believe what I have contended for is true, and I have great confidence in 
truth. Very truly yours. 

Matt. II. Carpenter. 

This splendid epic was unanswerable. It soon found its 
way into print, and flew like the wind to all quarters of the 
loyal Union, and was published prominently in every Union 
paper in the north. It carried dismay into the ranks of the 

• John J. Crittenden. 



GOING TO ENLIST. 20$ 

obstructionists, and crashed through the sophistries of the 
copperhead democracy like a cannon-ball through a paper 
fortress. It was a lodestar for thousands who were patri- 
otic and loyal at heart, but who were mentally at a loss to 
know precisely what was their duty under the new and un- 
tried circumstances. 

It strengthened the administration, stiffened the democratic 
northern soldiery, and carried increased fire and patriotism 
to all loyal hearts. Judge Levi Hubbell sent a copy of it to 
the President. Secretary Welles declared " it came like a 
clear ray of light through the surrounding gloom." It 
pointed out, ahead of all contemporaneous statesmen, that 
the Rebellion could never be crushed so long as slavery re- 
mained intact, and our armies were forbidden to capture or 
disturb colored bondmen — a doctrine that was, after a year 
of disastrous delay, fully concurred in and acted upon by the 
administration. 

GOING TO ENLIST. 

Carpenter now proposed to enlist as a soldier, but his 
friends protested that he could not be spared; that on the 
field of battle he could bear but one musket and would 
count but one among the slain, while at home, his logic, his 
patriotic earnestness and his inspired eloquence made him a 
host at the recruiting meetings — a victorious army wherever 
he went among the people. His reply was characteristic: 
"I have done a great deal of talking, all that is required, I 
think. The people must understand the matter pretty thor- 
oughly by this time, and I notice that Uncle Abe don't call 
for two hundred thousand more talkers, he wants fightersP 

He then went to the office of the examining surgeon, who 
pronounced him physically unfit to bear arms. That sent 
him back among the people, addressing mass-meetings every- 
where. Not, however, until he had hired a substitute, for 
$800, who served through the war. What could be more 
patriotic? He was not subject to draft nor acceptable as a 
volunteer. 



206 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



DECLINING CONGRESSIONAL HONORS. 

On the nth of September, 1862, the republican convention 
for the first congressional district of Wisconsin met at Ra- 
cine and nominated John F. Potter (since famous under the 
sobriquet of " Bowie-Knife " Potter, from choosing bowie- 
knives to fight a duel with Roger A. Pryor) for congress. 
Some favored the nomination of other candidates, and some 
thought that under the stormy circumstances there should 
have been no partisan, but a Union nomination. Conse- 
quently a call, signed by a large number of prominent citi- 
zens, asking Carpenter to become an independent Union 
candidate, was sent to him. He made reply: 

Milwaukee, September 15, 1862. 
Messrs. David Ferguson, William B. Hibbard, James B. Cross, C. 
K. Martin, S. T. Hooker, John G. Inbusch, F. S. Ilsley, Levi 
HuBBELL, D. A. J. Upham, T. C. Trowbridge, Edward Sanderson, 
Emanukl Friend, John T. Wentworth, Q. S. Head, Lyndsey 
Ward, and others: 
Gentlemen — With lively gratitude for the confidence reposed, I have to 
acknowledge the receipt of your call requesting me to become a candidate 
for representative in congress. 

In peace parties may be beneficial, but in war there should be no divis- 
ions among the people. And it is one of the most melancholy signs of the 
times, that, while hostile hosts are marching upon the national capital, our 
generals in the field are wrangling for personal preferment, and our politi- 
cians are preparing to open a campaign of politics before the people. 

In the loyal states there are a few men of extreme and opposite views; 
some can see nothing worth preserving while slavery continues, and others 
will have it for a political creed that the servitude of an inferior to a supe- 
rior race is the best condition for both races, and would hamper and par- 
alyze the government in its struggles for self-existence witli new-tangled 
refinementsof constitutional construction. But between these extremes, upon 
a strong, broad platform at once conservative and patriotic, embodying the 
principles of the constitution for peace, sanctioning the vigor of Jackson 
for war, the great body of the people may meet and unite their efforts to 
save all that is so nearly lost. 

The proper creed for these times is exceedingly simple: The constitution 
to be applied in the courts, the sword to be applied to the enemy. Life, liberty 
and property are secured against everything but the paramount necessities 
of national preservation, but against these necessities neither life, liberty noi 



DECLINING CONGRESSIONAL HONORS. 207 

property can or ought to be protected. If slavery in any instance or place 
is in the way of the nation's march to victory, sweep it away ; if, on the 
other hand, slavery in any instance or place is one side, do not let us be 
diverted by it from our first duty to restore the government and punish 
traitors. The hearty adoption and faithful application of these principles 
by the government, with rea enable skill in the field, will save the nation; 
and with all this party politics has nothing to do; and while this is the only 
business of the government, party organizations founded upon differences 
of civil policy are a hindrance and a nuisance. 

But the office-holding politicians of the republican party have con- 
demned all these salutary principles, and have thrown down the gauntlet 
by calling a strict party convention, and nominating a strict and extreme 
party candidate. Those democrats who have thought it a duty to support 
the government, administered by republicans, and have advocated the sus- 
pension of party strife during the war, have done so in good faith, (md not 
as a fretense for sliding into the republican party. The theory that the 
people choose their officers is one of the best jokes ol this mirthful land. 
A few politicians in each party fix the two tickets, and the people patiently 
submit and choose between them, often thoroughly convinced that neither 
is fit for the place. 

With two candidates in the field, representing extreme politicians of the 
opposite parties, a third nomination would greatly increase the bitterness 
of the campaign, and multiply the difficulties it sought to avoid, unless the 
people at large were really interested and active in the matter. A call is 
not the best way to secure this unanimity of action, because it often 
anticipates public sentiment by forcing it into certain channels ; so that 
while the people might be willing to ignore parties they might be equally 
anxious to ignore the so-called no-party candidate. A candidate placed 
before the people by a call from his friends might with great effort and ex- 
pense be elected ; but this would not accomplish the purpose, which is, not 
to elect some particular person, but to represent the people, and by the 
moral force of such an election, shame and silence party strife. 

For these reasons I think it would be unwise at this time to crowd the 
field with another candidate, and under the present circumstances I feel it 
a duty to decline your call. 

I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 

Frequently, for various reasons good and bad, young 
couples clandestinely take the marriage vows, but still retain 
their former names and places before the public. They are 
nevertheless married. Carpenter, in the foregoing letter, pro- 
tests that he had not supported the war measures of the 



208 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Lincoln administration " as a pretense for sliding into the re- 
publican party." He may not have realized the fact, but his 
public actions had already landed him in the very center of 
the republican camp. The democrats made a congressional 
nomination, but he supported Potter. 

A CHANGE OF FRONT. 

Politics brings some curious changes in the relative posi- 
tions of men. In 1848 Charles A. Eldredge delivered a 
free-soil address at Beloit, and Carpenter, as a democrat, in 
his first public speech in Wisconsin, combated Eldredge's 
propositions. In 1862 Eldredge was a candidate of the 
straight democracy for congress in the fourth district of 
Wisconsin, and Carpenter went into that section and opposed 
his election, favoring the elevation of Edward S. Bragg, the 
Union candidate, then a lieutenant-colonel in the army and 
leading the boys at the front. In opposing the election 
of Eldredge Carpenter was assisted by Ichabod Codding, 
the greatest abolitionist orator in the west, and they together 
addressed audiences of extraordinary size. At Beaver Dam 
and Fond du Lac Carpenter spoke alone to immense gather- 
ings. At the latter place, the home of Eldredge, he was 
not permitted to retire until midnight. » 

THE IMMORTAL DECREE 

Carpenter was undoubtedly the first man of note in the 
republic to maintain that the Rebellion could never be crushed 
as long as the insurrectionists were backed by the resources 
of a vast slave population. Therefore, when the emancipa- 
tion proclamation was issued, in September, 1862, he hastened 
to publicly approve it and to rally the loyal populace to sup- 
port it with renewed hope as the great and only measure 
that could settle for all time the tremendous struggle that 
was shaking both continents. He telegraphed his congratu- 
lations, approval and strengthened hopes to Washington, the 
message to Lincoln being in these words: "The great trans- 



THE IMMORTAL DECREE. 209 

action's done. Your immortality will be co-existent with 
that of the Jesus of Nazareth. Nothing but your decree 
of emancipation could have saved the republic." 

One of the very first mass-meetings in the country to rat- 
ify the President's action was held in Chicago. Carpenter 
was present and made, the chief address. As he was one of 
the (earliest, perhaps the first, to urge the adoption of some 
measure of this kind, and as the proclamation itself is the 
noblest act of any American citizen, his remarks would be 
worthy of incorporation here in full if a perfect copy of them 
were to be had. There shall at least be presented an imper- 
fect synopsis: 

We need not necessarily discuss the propriety of, or necessity for, the 
President's pr'^claination. Upon that subject there is understood to liave 
been difference of opinion in the cabinet, liesitation on the part of the Pres- 
ident; and very Hliely we should find difference of opinion among the 
speakers and hearers to-night. But that is not the question. Wise or un- 
wise, necessary or unnecessary, it has gone forth, and the only question 
now to be considered is, sJiall the government be sustained in enforcing it? 
The ship of state is tossed by angry waves ; our liberties, our national ex- 
istence even, hang on the results of military operations, and the com- 
mander must take the responsibility of directing what shall and what shall 
not be done. He may not always do the wisest thing, but we have no hope 
but in executing, unitedly and without disputation, such plans as the Presi- 
dent may devise. We are not presidents, not generals, not cabinet officers ; 
the sovereign power of the people is delegated and can not be recalled 
until the expiration of the President's constitutional term of office; and 
during that term this grave question must be settled for or against the ex- 
istence of the government. The necessities of military success require 
subordination to one guiding mind, and any policy, even the 'worst, is prefer- 
able to no policy. We have drifted long enough, and our captain at length 
indicates a port and orders us to make for it. It may not be the best that 
could have been selected; there may be shoals in our course, and breakers 
ahead, but it is certain that we must unite in our eftbrts to reach it, or go 
down in the engulfing flood. For one, I propose to go ashore; and after- 
ward, when delivered from the tempest, we shall have long winter nights 
and soft summer days to discuss political questions and court-martial the 
captain, if lie deserves it. 

I would suppoit the measure, even though I thought it unwise, so long 
as it remains the military policy of the country. But I do not believe it nn- 
Tvise. At first it was thought that there was a suppressed. Union feeling in 
H 



2IO LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

the south, and while that was believed, of course it was unwise to overlook 
the fact. But from all sources we receive the same advice — southerners are 
bitter and desperate. They can not be won back to duty and allegiance; 
they are to whip us, or we them. Now the simple question is presented, 
shall we lot them go, see the Union fall, let the Mississippi seek its outlet 
in a foreign land, or shall we at any and all events vindicate the government, 
maintain our dominion from the Lakes to the Gulf, and with a firm and 
vigorous hand put down this most unjust and wicked Rebellion? 

This is the only i^sue before the people. At this point we may say, in 
the language of Scripture, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." A 
broad, distinct line is drawn between the people; and on one hand are those 
who are willing to sustain the government at all events and by every nec- 
essary means. On the other are those who support the government " in 
sort and limitation;" \i\\o support it provided their views are carried out; 
provided the President is willing to go into the ring with his feet shackled 
and his hands tied by refined constitutional constructions; provided the in- 
stitution of slavery is held more sacred than the constitution itself; and/;o. 
vided the President will consent to exhaust our means and waste our white 
men of the north by thousands and millions, rather than let one African 
escape. The division, in a word, is between those who would support the 
constitution unconditionally, and those who would support itow/yupon cer- 
tain terms and conditions. And this proclamation, like the voice of Elijah 
on the Mount, separates the true from the false. Henceforth, the cavilers 
in the north must take sides — they must be for the policy of the govern- 
ment or against it. 

The rights of property and all other rights must give way, if necessary, 
before the war power ; and this proclamation merely announces the future 
war policy of the government. 

First, there is not the slightest doubt that it is the duty of the President 
to conduct the war to a successful end; if it be necessary to desolate the 
south, then let the south be desolated — the necessity is our justification. 

Second, the only remaining question is the necessity of the particular 
measure, and of that the President is for the present the sole judge. He 
says it is necessary. I believe it is. The slave is merely property to his 
master, and our northern objectors say, rather than weaken the south by 
depriving the rebels of their property, let us -Maste another million of true, 
loyal men, and a thousand millions in treasure. 

Considered in this point of view, the question is, upon whom shall fall 
the expense of restoring the government? Shall it fall upon the loyal north 
or the rebel south? Are we willing to sacrifice another thousand millions 
of dollars to protect the same amount to the south in the property of their 
slaves? But this is not all of the question — are we willing to send for the 
other million of our northern men to waste by disease and fall pierced by 
insurgent bullets? 



THE IMMORTAL DECREE. 211 

I have no language to express my detestation of such a policy. I would 
not sacrifice my father, or brother, or the son or brother of one of my 
neighbors, to continue a hundred million Negroes in slavery eternally, 
much less send another great army from our green fields and comfortable 
homes to die in southern swamps, and mingle their bones with southern 
slaves, if the same end can be accomplished by emancipation. Slavery, like 
every other right of property, should be protected under the constitution; 
but, when the master rebels against the constitution, he can not use it as a 
shield to protect himself in his efforts to destroy the constitution. This 
makes the constitution give aid and comfort to its enemies. W e have this 
gigantic Rebellion raging and surging around the capital ; we have an Indian 
war on the border; foreign nations are threatening to intervene, our case is 
desperate, we need desperate remedies, and I uphold and applaud this 
proclamation for this reason. It is impossible to foresee all its results. I 
look upon it in great hope, and with some apprehensron ; I may illustrate 
by saying it is an overloaded gun, directed towards the enemy ; it may kill 
them, or us, God knows which, I hope not us; but, at all events, and in 
every contingency, / hold it my duty to stand by the gun. 

Returning from Chicago, Carpenter stopped at Racine 
and addressed a mass-meeting (September 29th), exhorting 
all lovers of the Union to sustain the President, and to go on 
with recruiting, as the north had brighter prospects of suc- 
cess than ever before. Here he prepared an illustrative 
ticket showing his audience the exact political condition of 
the north. 



Only Two Parties. 



Traitors. 



No Neutrals. 



Patriots. 



At Janesville, on October 3d, he addressed another ratifica- 
tion mass-meeting. Judge John R. Bennett, who was one of 
the vice-presidents of the meeting, described the speech as 
" the ablest ever delivered in Janesville. On the main question 
of the -power of the President to issue and enforce his recent 
proclamations, as war measures, he was convincing and con- 
clusive ; while, on the propriety and necessity of those meas- 
ures, he was explicit and unqualified in his approval." At the 
close of this meeting, a large number of citizens met at the 



212 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Hyatt House, and tendered Carpenter an elegant banquet. 
He thus proceeded over the state during several weeks, 
making similar speeches to the masses, doing eflfective service 
in reducing and preventing conscription by draft. 

THE RYAN ADDRESS. 

In August, 1862, the anti-war democrats held a convention 
in Milwaukee and adopted as a platform or address a docu- 
ment of great length and greater sedition, known in subse- 
quent history as the " Ryan Address." It was, without 
doubt, the most unpatriotic pronunciamento given to the pub- 
lic in any northern state during the Rebellion. Carpenter at 
once wrote a " review " of it, which appeared in not only the 
loyal papers of Wisconsin but those of the entire north. The 
address declared slavery to be right and the only natural 
condition for an inferior race, denounced the administra- 
tion for usurpation of power, denied the authority of the 
President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, put the blame 
for the Rebellion on the north, and generally afforded aid and 
comfort to the enemy. Although it was a production of ex- 
treme wickedness and disloyalty, the digestive historian of 
to-day can see the good fortune that attended its birth; for 
it added ten-fold to the power and earnestness of Carpenter 
in his ceaseless eflbrts in behalf of the Union. 

After the " review " had been published, a writer, supposed 
to have been Judge Ryan himself, advised " the boys," as 
he characterized Carpenter and his followers, to read Jack- 
son and Washington as the very embodiment of the princi- 
ples of the " Ryan Address." Carpenter replied to this on 
September 11, 1862, receiving a letter of thanks from Ed- 
win M. Stanton, secretary of war. It is too full of history, 
law and logic for excision from this volume. It proceeds: 

To the Editor of the Evening Wisconsin : 

A writer never was more unfortunate, when trying to sustain an un- 
founded'document, than was the editor of the News when he tried to draw 
consolation from cither Washington or Jackson. 



THE RYAN ADDRESS. 213 

The quotations have not the slightest application to the subject; but the 
whole public life of Jackson is a refutation of Mr. Ryan's address. 

To say nothing of his Florida campaign, in which he exercised innumer- 
able imperial powers, which he and his friends justified, not by the consti- 
tution, but by the necessities of the case, let us come directly to the last 
war when Jackson had military command at New Orleans, and there we 
shall find many cases directly to the point, and completely overthrowing 
Mr. Ryan's theory that the constitution is a regulator of -wai^ or a guide to 
the President and his military subordinates in conducting the war. We shall 
see many things which Jackson did outside the constitution, and how he 
and Ills political friends defended his conduct. 

He first proclaimed martial law, and while it was in force, though after 
the report of peace had reached the United States, the Louisiana Gazette, a 
newspaper printed at New Orleans, published a certain article which called 
from the old hero a communicaiion denying its truth, which he sent by an 
aid-de-camp to the offending editor, with a xvritten order requiring its in- 
sertion In the next issue of the paper, and concluding as follows: 

" Henceforth it is expected that no publication of the nature of that herein 
alluded to and censured will appear in any paper of the city, unless the ed- 
itor shall have previously ascertained its correctness and gained permission 
for tts insertion front the proper source.'''' 

During this state of things, Fienchmen attempted to elude the general's 
iron grasp, under so-called protections from the French consul at New Or- 
leans; and Jackson issued an order requiring all unnaturalized Frenchmen, 
together -cvitk the French consul,\.o leave New Orleans within three days, and 
not to return to within one hurdred and twenty miles of the city until tlie 
news of the ratification of peace should be officially published. This order 
was thought by some to be "outside the constitution;" and they protested 
against it in an article in the Louisiana Courier (another newspaper of the 
city), ivhich protest r^ads exceedingly like Mr. Ryan^s address, and denounces 
the order as illegal and unconstitutional. Thereupon Jackson ordered the 
editor to headquarters, and compelled him to disclose the name of the 
writer, Louallier; and then Jackson sent a file of soldiers to arrest Loual- 
lier. Indignant that his article, which is in the very strain of Mr. Ryan's 
address, and written to prove that " the constitution provides for all the ex- 
igencies of war," should be regarded as cause for his arrest Louallier ap- 
plied to Judge Hall, of the United States court, for a writ of habeas corpus. 
That worthy functionary, believing, like Mr. Ryan, that the constitution 
does indeed provide for all the exigencies of war, that the freedom of the 
press could not be trammeled, and that the arrest of Louallier without proc 
ess, in a loyal, state was illegal, allowed the writ. The officer came to 
serve it ; and Jackson being informed of what had taken place, rushed to meet 
the officer, seized the writ of habeas corpus from his hand, and detained it; 



214 ^^^^ O^ CARPENTER. 

and immediately ordered Judge Hall to be arrested and imprisoned in the 
same room with the French expounder of the doctrine that the constitution 
provides for all the exigencies of -war. 

Now, actions speak louder than words. This is what Jackson did; and 
that too in a loyal state; and this he did as a representative of the President, 
exercising by delegation from the then President, Mr. Madison, the Presi- 
dent's executive power. Turn now to Mr. Ryan's address and see how it 
is supported by the authority of Gen. Jackson. 

1. " We deny the power of the executive to suspend the writ of liabeas 
corpus in the loyal states. We deny that this act, materially changing the 
laws of the land, is an executive act " 

Jackson suspended the writ, and then suspended the judge -who issued it, 
and all this in a loyal state. 

2. " We deny t he power of the executive to make arrests in the loyal states. 
* * There are federal courts in all the loyal states with full power and 
jurisdiction to punish all crimes against the United States." 

Jackson made arrests in a loyal state; and arrested the judge of a federal 
court in a loyal state. 

3. " We deny the poiver of the executive to trammel the freedom of the 
press, by the suppression of newspapers." 

Jackson trammeled the freedom of the press; and if he did not do it 
by suppressing the newspapers, it was because the editor, who had heard 
the lion's roar, did not provoke his paw. 

Here, then, are three distinct planks of Mr. Ryan's platform, which ex- 
clude Jackson from the tents of the democracy as clearly as other portions 
exclude Douglas. When this address shall be universally applied, and all 
those shall be excluded who do not deny its doctrines or practice its les- 
sons, Mr Ryan will remain the leader, and the A^e-vs the organ, of a glo- 
rious little party, the harmony of which will never be disturbed by any 
impulstvc patriotism. 

But this is no*: all; not only did Jackson, when exercising by delegation 
the executive power of the President, deliberately violate these three fun- 
damental dogmas of Mr Ryan's address, but he, and his friends afterwards 
in many places, and during many years, in speeches before the people, in 
loyal arguments, in state papers, in reports and debates in congress, added 
the weight of their opinions and their votes to sustain the conduct of Gen- 
eral Jackson, and tlius to condemn the principles of this address. 

After martial law ceased in New Orleans, the released Judge Hall called 
the conquering hero before him to teach him that thereafter he must con- 
duct wars inside the constitution; must not trammel the frcidom of the fress; 
must not make arrests in loyal states, and a great many other things, all of 
which can be found in Mr. Ryan's address. Upon this occasion Jackson 
delivered a long paper in his defense over his own signature, fully justify- 



THE RYAN ADDRESS. 215 

ing his conduct, which fills eleven columns of Niles' Register^ and every 
paragraph of which is in deadly antagonism with the doctrine of Mr. 
Ryan's address. 

The judge, however, was inexorable, and General Jackson was fined one 
thousand dollars, and paid his fine. 

Subsequently, and after General Jackson had been President, and had 
retired to private life, a bill was introduced into congress to refimd the fine, 
upon the ground that the conduct of Jackson had been perfectly proper; 
and this led to a debate by most of the statesmen of that day upon the very 
point now under discussion. 

Robert J. Walker, in the senate, submitted a report upon this subject, in 
which he said : 

" The law which justified this act was the great law of necessity ; it was 
the law of self-defense. This great law of necessity — of defense of self, 
of home and of country — never was designed to be abrogated by any 
statute, or by any conslitutionP 

Mr. Payne, of Alabama, speaking upon this subject, said : ^^I sfiall not con- 
tend that the constitution or laws of the United States authorize the declara- 
tion of martial la-w by any authority whatever ; on the contrary, it is unknown 
to the constitution or laws.'" And speaking of the argument that, if the con- 
stitution did not autho~ize it, the general ought not to declare martial law, 
he says: "Who could tolerate this idea? An Arnold might; but no patri- 
otic American could. It may be asked upon what principle a commander 
can declare martial law, when it is conceded that the constitution or laws 
afford him no authority to do so. 1 answer, upon that principle of self- 
defense xvhich rises paramount to all ivritleii law ; and the justification of the 
officer who assumes the responsibility of acting upon that principle must 
rest upon the necessity of the case" 

Mr. Livingston, in a written document submitted by Jackson to the court 
as a part of his defense, gave his opinion as follows: "On the nature and 
effect 01 the proclamation of martial law by Major-General Jackson, my 
opinion is, that such proclamation is unknoivn to the constitution and laws of 
the United States; that it is to be justified only by the necessity of the case." 

The speech of Smith, of Connecticut, was equally pointed; and we might 
quote many columns from the discussions of those days equally to the 
point. Douglas himself made his first g.eat speech upon this subject; but 
as he is no longer recognized as a democrat, the News would never forgive 
my quoting his speech against Mr. Ryan's address. 

One of General Jackson's letters, in justification of his military conduct, 
contains the following postscript: " It will be recollected that in the Revo- 
lutionary War, at a time of great trial. General Washington ordered desert- 
ers to be shot without trial. Captain Reed, under this order, having arrested 
three, had one shot without trial; but he (General Washington) repri- 
manded Reed for not shooting the whole three" 



2l6 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

After the maturest consideration, congress paid back the fine ; and thus 
was Jackson vindicated bv the democratic party, and by tlie nation, in the 
vigorous exercise of power which marked his New Orleans campaign. 
And how fully and perfectly is Jackson vindicated by the people (the source 
of all authority), in the universal exclamation that now rises up from every 
patriotic American heart — "Oh! that Jackson were President to-day!" 

Washington and Jackson met the exigencies of war, not with statutes 
and constitutions, but with a healthy application of military law; and, in 
the proper case, with summary arrest and speedy death. The severity and 
military vigor of Jackson's New Orleans campaign would end this Rebell- 
ion in six weeks; hence Breckenridge labored to prove that the war power 
was limited by the constitution. 

The principle announced by Breckenridge is elaborated, polished, hid in 
meal, sugared over with an artful expression of conceded truths, in this 
address, and democrats are bidden to fall dovjii before it. The News^ the 
organ of this doctrine in Wisconsin, says " the boys" — that is, those who 
do not believe in it — should read Jackson. Bowing to its authority, and 
willing to have our democracy corrected if it was at fault, " the boys " have 
been to-day to the fountain-head of democratic faith, illustrated by practice — 
not any barren recital of dead dogmas, but the living, abiding, daily coun- 
sel and conduct of Andrew Jackson ; and it appears that if this address em- 
bodies democratic opinions, democracy has sprung up since Jackson went 
down in the grave. 

Now, Mr. Editor of the Nc-vs^ the above quotations are the fruit of 
a reading of the times of Jackson, undertaken upon your suggestion. If 
you know any other father of democracy whose writings you think can be 
safely relied on to prove that the war power is limited by the constitution, 
please name him, and "the boys" will search and give you the result of 
the investigation. 

Matt. II. CxarEXTER. 



REVOLT AGAINST THE DRAFT. 2T*J 

CHAPTER XXI. 

REVOLT AGAINST THE DRAFT. 

On the night before election, in i860, Carpenter delivered in 
Watertown, Wisconsin, a powerful speech in favor of the elec- 
tion of Stephen A. Douglas. He was in fine health and spirits, 
and deeply in earnest. He had never spoken with more 
warmth and effect. He said his soul was full of apprehension, 
he could feel danger in the air and smell the smoke of civil war. 
" Such a war," he cried, " can only be averted by the elec- 
tion of Judge Douglas, and I think all patriots, irrespective 
of party, should turn in with their mighty forces to place 
him in the President's chair, and thus bridge over the terri- 
ble crisis that is pending." 

Then, paying a generous tribute to Douglas, he predicted 
that if Lincoln should be elected the sound of the recruiting 
drum would be heard in Watertown in less than a year. " But 
if the first blow of such fratricidal strife shall come from 
the south — that is, if she shall raise her hand in violence 
against the government, the flag and the Union — I will, if 
possible, be the first man in the field in their defense, where I 
hope I shall meet every one of you, ready to fight to the last 
for the banner and the chart of 1776, for ' none can die too 
soon who die for their country.' " 

All the prophecies of that occasion were literally fulfilled. 
Lincoln was, as he anticipated, elected, the fife and recruit- 
ing drum were heard at Watertown in less than a year, and 
Carpenter was one of the first " in the field in defense of the 
Union." But the first call for volunteers did not summon an 
army which could crush the Rebellion. Tlie business of 
recruiting, therefore, had to be more closely organized, and the 
quota of esfth state was advertised, which in turn was sub- 
divided into quotas for the counties, towns and wards. This 
brought the matter into definite shape before the large class 



2l8 LIFE OF CARPENTER 

of foreign-born settlers of Watertown and vicinity. The 
leading German paper of Wisconsin opposed the war, and 
advised its countrymen to avoid enlisting and resist the drafts. 
The argument used among the Germans was: "Shall you 
who have left your fatherland to escape the army and the 
tyranny of conscription, enter this abolition strife to be 
butchered for a cause in which 3^ou have no interest?" 
Scores of the foreigners living at Wa'er:own and vicinity, in- 
flamed by this seditious reasoning, p epared to return to 
Europe. 

Secretary Stanton's " stay-at-home order " ^ had little or no 
effect. The war leaders, half-baffled, yet determined to win, 
while the excitement was most intense and the anti-war 
feeling at its bitterest, telegraphed Carpenter to come with- 
out dela3\ Dropping everything he started on the first 
train — sprung to obey the cry from Macedonia, " Come over 
and help us." Reaching the city in the early evening he was 
met at the depot by a large concourse of Union men who 
conducted him to the center of the place. A dry-goods box 
was pushed into the middle of the street and an impromptu 



1 That manifesto was issued August S, 1862, by order of President Lin- 
coln, and in his great debate on the admission of Georgia, April 18, 1S70, 
Carpenter declared that although "in a mere constitutional sense it was a 
great outrage, in tlie higher atmosphere of national necessity was found its 
justification," and that " a more beneficial act was not performed during the 
entire war." Observe how strongly this confirms all his doctrines during 
the Rebellion — tiiat a nation has a right to every means of self-preserva- 
tion, and that no nation can be destroyed by interposing constitutional ob- 
jections to the necessary modes of self-defense. The order was as follows: 

" By direction of the President of the United States, it is hereby ordered 
that, until further order, no citizen liable to ba drafted into the militia shall 
be allowed to go to a foreign country. And all marshals, deputy marshals 
and military ofTicers of the United States are directed, and ail police author- 
ities, especially at the ports of the United States on the sea-board and on the 
frontier, are requested to see that this order is faithfully carried into eftect. 
And they are hereby authorized and directed to arrest and detain any per- 
son or persons about to depart fiom tiie United States in a^olation of this 
order, and report to Major L. C. Turner, judge advocate, at W\ishington 
City, for furtlier instructions respecting the person or persons so arrested or 
detained." 



MORE GOSPEL OF PATRIOTISM 219 

choir sang " The Star Spangled Banner." The effect was 
marvelous. That stirring air, ringing with patriotism, 
brought the assembled country folk and the residents of the 
city, trooping from every corner. 

As Carpenter observed them appear mysteriously upon 
sidewalks and corners, the mystic whistle of Roderick Dhu 
flashed throuirh his mind. Turnincj to those who sat near 
him he said : " This is wonderful." A moment later, stretch- 
ing his hand toward the assembhng crowds, he repeated, in 
exact consonance with the occasion, that extract from the 
Lady of the Lake which describes how, like the appearance 
of a " subterranean host," the whistle of the Highland chief 
" garrisoned the glen." 

Just as the song died away he finished the quotation and 
rose to speak. He was greeted at first with some manifesta- 
tions of disapprobation. In ten minutes that was silenced; 
in twenty minutes it was transformed into respectful interest, 
and in half an hour the crowd belonged wholly to the 
speaker and was swayed at his will. Enemies became 
friends, the luke-warm became patriotic and the patriotic 
enthusiastic. Never was a change more amazing. The 
enlistment rolls were called for. Signatures came with rapid- 
ity for some time, and before the night was done almost the 
full quota had been enrolled. More wonderful still, a large 
number of the volunteers were from among those who, if 
they had not actually packed their satchels for the journey, 
had fully resolved to depart for Canada or return to Europe. 

MORE GOSPEL OF PATRIOTISM. 

The magnitude of the war-meeting addressed by Carpen- 
ter on the camp-grounds of the Third and Fourteenth regi- 
ments, called Camp Hamilton, in 1862, had never been 
equaled in Wisconsin. The throng was entirely in sym- 
path}' with him, and responded to his splendid tributes and 
appeals with rounds of applause. There was no phalanx 
of copperheads to be subdued, and the luke-warm fell into 



220 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

the line of marching patriots as though led by some irresist- 
ible power. At the close of the meeting Carpenter said: 
" Give me one hundred counties like Fond du Lac and I can 
put down the Rebellion alone!" This remark contained 
more truth than may be popularly supposed, for Fond du 
Lac, first and last, sent a large number of men into the field. 

From that time he always loved to go to Fond du Lac, 
and after returning to Milwaukee fi-om the first meeting, 
exclaimed: " Oh, I had a glorious meeting! I am more en- 
couraged than I have been for a long time. The war will 
end all right, and I know it; no country can be defeated 
whose cause is just and whose armies are recruited by such 
men as I addressed by the thousand in Camp Hamilton." 

Thus he went from place to place, swellmg the enlistment 
rolls, rousing the people to offer more liberal bounties in 
order to avert the drafts, and cheering those who had already 
enlisted; and one who knew publicly observed that "the 
money earned at intervals in his profession was freely given 
to the wives and children of those who had gone to the 
front." Nor did he relax his efforts for the Union until Lee 
delivered his sword to Grant under the hallowed apple-tree 
at Appomattox. 

On the 20th day of October, 1862, Governor Edward Sal- 
omon appointed Carpenter "judge advocate general of 
militia for Wisconsin." In the counties of Washington, Ke- 
waunee, Ozaukee and Manitowoc the operations of the draft 
commissioners were being interfered with, and Governor Sal- 
omon thought to bring into use Carpenter's knowledge of 
military law. The duties of the office to which he was 
appointed required him to prosecute at all sessions of courts- 
martial, an}' oflenders against military laws and regulations. 

In 1863, especially during the gubernatorial campaign, 
Carpenter devoted a large share of his time to addressing 
war and political meetings, appearing at every considerable 
city in Wisconsin. He supported James T. Lewis, the re- 
publican or Union candidate for governor, and attacked the 



A FAMOUS LETTER. 221 

heresies of H. L. Palmer's platform with great energy 
and effect. Lewis was elected by a majority unprecedented 
in Wisconsin. 

A FAMOUS LETTER. 

Early in 1863 Carpenter received a letter from one of his 
early democratic friends in Grant county inquiring: "Are 
you still in favor of a vigorous prosecution of this abolition 
war, which started out for the sole and only purpose of abol- 
ishing slavery? It seems to me that it has gone far enough 
for such an inhuman, unholy and unconstitutional purpose. I 
wish the readers of the Good Book would carefully read and 
inwardly digest (and the abolition preachers too) the 25th 
chapter of Leviticus, which relates to master and servants." 

Carpenter's reply, which found its way into the public 
prints, and disconnected extracts from which, five years later, 
afforded a rare feast for C. C. Washburn, the La Crosse 
Republicans and other opponents of his election to the United 
States senate, was as follows: 

Milwaukee, Feb. 28, 1S63. 
R. L. Reed, Esq. : 

Dear Sir — Returning yesterday, I find yours of the 12th instant. Pass- 
ing its business matters, which I will attend to, I desire to answer your 
political questions, which I understand to be pointed at me in friendly re- 
monstrance for the position I have taken upon the subject to which you 
refer. 

You speak of the war as having " started out for the sole and only pur- 
pose of abolishing slavery." 

This I regard as a very dangerous and fundamental error. The election 
of Abraham Lincoln, however unwise, was constitutional and binding upon 
the whole people of the United States. It was, therefore, not an act of war 
against the south, nor a justifiable cause of war by the south against the 
government. See the Ryan Address. Yet South Carolina, Mississippi, 
Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas seceded from the Union ; 
the Confederate government was organized, Jeft" Davis elected and inaugu- 
rated President, and forts, ships, public buildings, arms and treasures of the 
United States, in the seceded states, were seized by the Confederacy before 
even the inauguration of Lincoln; all of which were undoubted acts of 
war. The attack upon Fort Sumter commenced actual hostilities before the 
present administration had passed a law or done any official acts affecting 
the rights of the south. This ends the idea that the war was commenced 



222 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

by abolitionists for any purpose whatever. Lincoln, in his inaugural, 
pledged himself to sustain all the constitutional rights of the south ; the 
senate was democratic, and the republicans were powerless to touch slav- 
ery, even if they desired to do so. The south, well knowing no overt act 
of the government would ever be attempted against them, chose to dissolve 
the Union upon the mere pretext of Lincoln's election; and, so far as I 
have heard, not even a southern newspaper has ever assigned an unfriendly 
or unjust, much less an unconstitutional act of the government against the 
south, as the cause of the Rebellion. 

This is the point from which we must take our bearings and departure. 
Was the Rebellion justified or not in its inception.-* This question settled, 
all else must follow. To say that the election of a President authorized 
the minority to fly to arms to overthrow the government, would canonize 
revolt, and no government of free institutions, state or national, could 
stand beyond its first election, for there must always be a dissatisfied minor- 
ity. If the Rebellion was not justifiable, then it was not only the right, but 
the duty, of the government to put it down by military force, and to con- 
tinue the use of force until the proper object, obedience to the constitution^ 
should be fuUv accomplished. And, if this is the duty of the government, 
then all good citizens ought to aid and sustain the government in the pros- 
ecution of just such war to a satisfactory and honorable end, whether it 
continue one year or ten generations. Thus do I deduce the duty of 
all democrats to support the government, "even unto the end of the 
world." 

The position of the party on the breaking out of the Rebellion was most 
perplexing, and called for the exercise of the loftiest public virtues. We 
had just passed through a presidential campaign, in which we foretold all 
that has happened; we warned the country ot the danger; we imploned 
our opponents to moderate their madness; to desist from the fatal scheme 
of electing a sectional President; to aid us in elevating to the highest seat 
in the republic, one — since gone to his reward — who could, if it were pos- 
sible for man, avert the horrors of civil war; who might, if such war must 
come, conduct us safely through it, to a haven of union, justice and peace. 
Our warnings were disregarded, prudence silenced, and from all our great 
ones, who, though dead, still live, the people turned away, rejected Doug- 
las and chose one for whom his most sanguine friends have never claimed 
any other qualification than honest incapacity. As soon as the result was 
known, the catastrophe hastened. While democrats were smarting under 
defeat, and before the farthing lamps of the Wide-Awakes were extinguished, 
the war-cloud we had seen rising, "«<? bigger than a mini's hand^'' instantly 
grew black, and enveloped and burst upon the land. It is cause of regret, 
but not of wonder, that many faltered, and were disposed to let the repub- 
licans get out of the war as best they might; and it is cause of rejoicing, 
of thanksgiving to God, that the democrats had a leader in that hour whose 



A FAMOUS LETTER. 223 

eye blanched not, and who saw plainly our whole duty to the state. 

Douglas 

"is in his grave; 
After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well." 

It may be thought whimsical or extravagant, but to my mind there is not 
in all human history a more conspicuous example of grand, self-forgetting 
patriotism, than he exhibited in those memorable last days of his life, 
when, standing before his open grave, he forgot his own disappointment, 
rebuked the murmurs of his friends, and uttered those counsels of wisdom, 
those exhortations to duty, that like a trumpet aroused the democratic party 
and rallied it around the constitution to beat back its murderers. From his 
last speeches, especially since we know they are his last, we naturally turn 
to Washmgton's farewell address. But how widely different the circum- 
stances of the writers. Washington, at the close of a life of dazzling 
splendor, with every ambition gratified, turned to the people, and from an 
impulse of common gratitude bade them farewell with counsels and bless- 
ings. Douglas had been rejected, derided, scoffed at, spit upon, crucified; 
yet above it all he arose, in the very spirit of the prayer, " Father, forgive 
them, they know not what they do." The angry emotions an unsuccess- 
ful campaign had created in his followers could not blind him. He had 
foretold that war would follow Lincoln's election; but he had also boldly said 
in Virginia that such election would not justify a revolt, and he would aid to 
put it down. And when the war came he rose like a tower of light and 
strength between the government and its assailants. Mad he lived there 
■would have been no uncertain sound from the trumpet of democracy; we 
should have had no Ryan addresses; and New York politicians would 
have been spared the humiliation of eating their own words, and the shame 
of their coquetry with " the zvay-Mard sisters" 

All admit that it is our duty, that -rce have sxvorn, to support the constitu- 
tion — the constitution as Washington and the fathers made it; as it was, as 
it is; every word; every sentence; without discrimination of provisions; 
without mental or moral reservation. Among our political duties, this 
rises in altitude of obligation like the commandments above the lazvs; to sup- 
port the constitution, which is — and because it is — the cementing princi- 
ple, the circling band, the life and soul of the Union. But how is this, 
which all acknowledge, to be performed.'' And here, men who mean the 
same thing are found face to face; so difficult it is to descend from the gen- 
eralities to the details of pati iotism. To support the constitution is to main- 
tain and perpetuate the government of which it is the soul. And the 
manner of our support must be determined by the character of the danger 
that threatens it. When assailed by the theoretical dogmas of nullification, 
Webster supported the constitution by the Hayne speech. Now, when it 
is sought to overthrow it by armed Rebellion, we can only support the con- 
stitution by overthrowing the Rebellion. To do this, the people of the 



224 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

north must stand together; mu';t, for the time, forget old party disputa- 
tions; must, to quote from Douglas' great speech, which is a perfect patri- 
otic "sermon on the mount," full of all doctrine and exhortation, "Cease 
discussing party issues, make no alius. on to old party tests, have no crim- 
ination or recrimination, indulge in no taunt one against the other, as to 
who has been the cause of these troubles." Douglas here taught a lesson 
of patriotism too high for popular comprehension; and it is settled by the 
action of the republicans themselves that we must keep up party organiza- 
tions. But let us not divide the people upon the great duty of supporting 
the government. But, you may say, thus to support the government is to 
support an administration which is violating the constitution by illegal 
arrests, and squandering Negroes by proclamation. 

Now here I rise to a question of order. Before we discuss this question 
of the power of the President to do certain things — that is, before we enter 
upon a construction of the provisions of the constitution — let us first settle 
the question, whether we have any constitution to be construed. The sum- 
mary arrest of a few northern sympathizers with treason may be very un- 
constitutional ; that, however, is a question that we can discuss hereafter. 
But this Rebellion must be suppressed now or never. Beauregard, in his 
late proclamation at Charleston, called upon the people to come with or 
without arms, come with scythes, with flails, with anything to kill a federal 
soldier. So here in this hand-to-hand fight for national life we have no 
time to examine closely whether every blow that is given be according to 
the constitution, if it kill or help to kill a traitor in arms, if it darken the 
chances of southern success, and tend thus to give preponderance to the 
government. We will settle this constitutional scrape after iho peace, when 
we shall not be interrupted in our investigation by the roar of battle, or 
seduced away by the stirring enchantment of drum and fife. Jackson, by 
proclaiming martial law at New Orleans, arresting editors and judges, and 
threatening to blow up the legislature, repelled a threatened invasion, pre- 
served the sanctity of our soil, and supported tJie eonstitution. But you may 
say this was unconstitutional. I suppose so; but was it not wise in that 
emergency to violate the form of the constitution to preserve its substance.'' 
The people so declared by electing Jackson twice to the Presidency against 
all the wliig criticisms upon his so-called arbitrary and illegal conduct 
The principles by wliich our public men are to be judged are plain. If it 
was necessary, then it was right to suspend the Jiabeas corpus. If you think 
it was unnecessary in those states where the courts were sitting, so do I ; 
if you think it was unwise to suspend the habeas corpus, which the Anglo- 
Saxon has always regarded as an invitation to revolt, so do I ; but is this the 
time to enter into an angry contention with the government, upon this sub- 
ject, which will certainly weaken it and aid the Rebellion.'' Of two evils, 
but one of which can be corrected at the same time, let us by all means 
first correct the greater. There have not been five hundred persons sum- 



A FAMOUS LETTER. 22$ 

marilj arrested in all the north. They have been confined in forts, and fed 
and clothed by the government. Compare the sum total of their sufferings 
v^^ith the condition of five hundred thousand of our loyal men, whose blood 
is daily sinking in southern soil, and crying to heaven for vengeance upon 
southern traitors and northern sympathizers with treason. Let us rescue 
these first, put down the Rebellion, establish the constitution; then we will 
attend to the case of these fat fellows in Fort LaFayette and other healthy 
places of restraint, where they have been kept from danger, perhaps from 
crime, and if it turns out that they have been unjustly imprisoned, let us 
make them ample restitution, and punish those who imprisoned them. Con- 
sidering that nearly if not quite all who have been arrested have been 
offered their liberty upon merely taking the oath of allegiance, and have 
been detained because they refused, their case, though exceedingly interesting 
in a constitutional point of vietv, can await an hour of the breathing-time of 
peace, for final adjustment. 

These illegal arrests are very bad, but they fall upon white men, and 
that can be endured. But the unpardonable sin of this administration, its 
blasphemy against the holy ghost of politics, is the Emancipation Procla- 
mation. A democrat might consent to be imprisoned himself, but it breaks 
his heart to think a Negro may be free. 

Why, we are told by men black in the face with wrath, it is unconstitu- 
tional. Well, that is my understanding of it. But after the best investiga- 
tion I have been able to give the subject, I am of the opinion that the 
Rebellion is unconstitutional also! If the plaintiff demur to my defense I 
may attack his statement of action, and judgment must be given upon the 
whole record. If an accomplished soldier be set upon by a painted savage 
at midnight, may not the soldier defend himself by a blow not taught by 
the rules of art.'' If traitors attack the government by unconstitutional 
means, may not loyal men defend it by the same means.? Or does the con- 
stitution only tie the hands of its friends.'' No one justifies the proclama- 
tion except as an exercise of the war power. In and of itself it accom- 
plishes nothing; it merely announces the future war policy of the 
government. When the war ceases the war power ceases with it, and the 
south can return to their duty to-day and thus end the war, and plead 
the constitution in defense of themselves and their property. 

The wh te population of the south is under arms and fed by crops raised 
by slaves. Without this resource the Rebellion could not sustain itself a 
month. If its provisions protect to the traitor the only means he has lor 
continuing the struggle, then the constitution is giving aid and comfort to its 
o-ivn enemies, and ought to be sent to Fort LaFayette for treason! If one 
Negro can be captured and sent out of the south, then one Negro is with- 
drawn from aiding the Rebellion; and if a proclamation can seduce him 
from toiling for traitors in arms, tiien I say: "good for the proclamation.'" 
This is no question of philanthropy with me. I am no abolitionist. If we 
15 



226 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

have a right to enslave blacks for our benefit, have we not as good a right, 
if our salvation requires it, to set them free? I do not support the procla- 
mation because it may emancipate slaves, but because it may withdraw 
slave labor from furnishing supplies for the Rebellion. I am not trying to 
free slaves, but to whip traitors; and one way, in my belief the quickest 
and easiest way, is to cut oft" their supplies. It may be a part of the prej- 
udices which many years of reading and speaking upon this subject have 
generated, yet I do not believe it an act of kindness to emanfcipate them. 
But when God visits a nation in wrath, the innocent and guilty, men, 
women and children, black and white, bond and free, even the cattle on the 
thousand hills, must suffer together. 

If it is really necessary, we must harden our hearts, drive the fat, happy 
black man from his kind master, his genial home in the sunny south (land 
of chivalry and beauty, so precious to Negroes), and compel him to endure 
in some cooler clime the bufTetings, the temptations, the outrage and horror 
of freedom ! This disposes of complaints from the slave. If his master, 
a rebel in arms, looks north to say, "your accursed proclamation has de- 
prived me of $10,000, and thus, and so far, reduced my ability to continue 
this war against you," I reply, " my only regret is that we can not also 
take your forfeited life by a proclamation." If the proclamation withdraw 
one slave from toiling for the Rebellion, then it will do a good thing; if it 
can not produce, as some say, the least effect, if it is merely air, paper, noth- 
ing, then it is a small thing to make a great rumpus about. But it may be 
said, all infractions of the constitution are dangerous, and should be re- 
sisted. Well, which do you think endangers the existence of the constitu- 
tion most, a proclamation which you say can do neither good nor bad, or 
•five himdred thousand rebels with fixed bayonets rushing on the capital.' 
After exercising all the charity God has given me, I do not believe these 
extreme technical scruples arise from a love of the constitution. 

What is the meaning of this craven crying for peace, while traitors are 
levying war. "^ A strange thmg to come from the democratic party. Of 
course we all desire peace if it can be had with honor and the Union. But 
it is well known that no peace can be had except on the basis of dissolu- 
tion. The south must be recognized or subdued. Therefore to declare for 
peace, is to declare for disunion. And are you ready to say peace at such 
a price? Shall the democratic party at last accomplish the dissolution of 
the Union it has spent its whole efforts in preserving? If there is one 
article of its creed more essential than another, it is the frcser-'ution of the 
Union at the expense of all life and property^ inside or outside of the Union. 
And they who now cry for peace — dishonorable peace — by separating the 
states and rending the flag, will go down to political graves with H.irtford 
convention federalism, and every other party and ism, that, when tried by 
the single standaid, '•'■ love of country right or ivrong^^ has been found 
wanlintr. 



A FAMOUS LETTER. 227 

Our great trouble is, that we have no acknowledged leader of national 
reputation; no one great exponent of democratic faith, hope, and duty. 
If the great statesman could rise again from his grave on the margin of the 
murmuring Michigan sea, and say once more to the discordant, angry ele- 
ments, "peace, be still," then we should see again the marching battalions 
and exultant thousands of democrats whom his voice first called to the war. 
But alas! the dust of death has choked that utterance of wisdom and 
patriotism, and we must grope our way without a leader, without a light. 

And yet the great democratic party, although at present in a false posi- 
tion, blind with rage, and led by blind guides madder still, is the laat and 
only hope of our country. In all the past of its history the democratic party 
has been found true to the great duty of sustaining the government. From 
its organization, by far the greater part of the time democrats have admin- 
istered its affairs; they have protected and shielded the ark of the constitu- 
tion against assaults of foreign foes, and amid the dangers of internal strife. 
It and they are inseparably connected; the history and glory of one is the 
history and glory of the other. If democrats now falter in that support, it 
must fail; if they turn against it by act or word, it will despair and die. 

But there are signs of better things; some hope that Seymour intends to 
put the democratic party once more in connection with its own principles; 
relieve it from longer being — what has proved more than once fatal to its 
opponents — a peace party in time of -war. If Seymour will, he can do this; 
can save the country and be its next President. The party once more 
erect, its face to the foe, no right-minded man could fail to choose correctly 
between the republican party, born of sectional hate, reigning only with 
civil war, and the old hereditary party of the constitution, its brow adorned 
with trophies of peace, and covered all over with martial glory. Then 
again the government will be safe; then again we will march to the flag 
and keep step to the music of the Union; then these little irritating diffi- 
culties about arrests and proclamations will be drowned by the shouts and 
exultations of a united people battling for the best government ever known 
among men. Governor Seymour can not fail to see the grand opportunity 
fortune has opened to him, not merely to make himself President (that is 
vulgar), but to infold again these half-dissevered states, fix the power of the 
general government where no traitors would ever again dare to assail it, 
and record his own name only below that of Washington. All this he may 
do, all this I believe he means to do. M. H. Carpenter. 

This is the letter from which the La Crosse Republican 
made garbled quotations during the senatorial contest of 
1868 (steadily refusing Carpenter's repeated requests to 
publish the whole of it) for the purpose of proving that he 
was yet a democrat. As a whole, it was an admirable pro- 



2 28 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

duction for a loyal man of any party at a time of civil war, but 
some of its separate parts were food for his political enemies. 
It was remarkable for two things, to wit: Its unfavorable 
^reference to President Lincoln and its illogical treatment of 
the democratic party. After showing that all those who 
were attempting in the south to destroy the Union, and those 
in the north who were weakening the government by sym- 
pathizing with secession, were democrats, he yet declared 
that the " great democratic party was the last and only hope 
of the country." Both of these features, however, can be 
explained. He entertained very clear and pronounced views 
upon the best means of carrying on the war successfully, 
and had at about this time become displeased with what he 
regarded as a lack of well-defined purpose and vigorous 
determination on the part of the administration; hence his 
application of the term " honest incapacity " to Mr. Lincoln. 
His illogical treatment of the democratic party can be illus- 
trated by the address of the immortal Scottish bard, Robert 
Burns, "To Mary in Heaven." The poet was loyal and 
true in every form to the wife of his bosom, yet, when he felt 
the returning throb of his earlier love for the dead Mary 
Campbell, he could but cry: 

"Oh, Mary! Dear departed shade! 
Where is thy place of blissful rest? 
See'st thou thy lover lowly laid? 

Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? 

"That sacred hour can I forget; 

Can I forget the hallowed grove, 
Where by the winding Ayr we met 
'lo live one day of parting love? 
Eternity will not efface ' 

Those records dear of transports past — 
Thy image at our last embrace — 
Ah! little thought we 'twas our last! 
• *««*««« 

"Still o'er those scenes my mcm'ry wakes, 
And fondly broods with miser care; 
Time but th' impression stronger makes, 
As streams their channels deeper wear." 



A FAMOUS LETTER. 229 

And thus it was with Carpenter. While his every move, 
speech and act had been in the strictest conformity to the 
war-policy of the republican party; while he had been ear- 
nestly loyal to the Union and the constitution, and while in 
this very letter he had pointed out the deflections and errors 
of the democratic party and the treasonable tendencies of 
the peace-crying wing of that organization, he could not re- 
frain from paying a tribute to his earlier love, the dead and 
departed democracy of JefTerson and Jackson. 



230 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE JANESVILLE CONVENTION. 

The proceedings of what is known as the Janesville mass- 
convention constitute the most important chapter in the his- 
tory of the Wisconsin democracy. 

A democratic state convention assembled at Madison on 
the 5th day of August, 1863. It nominated a ticket for state 
officers, and adopted a platform embracing the " Ryan Ad- 
dress " and a series of resolutions which, if anything, ex- 
ceeded the address in hostility to the active war powers of 
the federal government. At no period during the war had 
the Union been in greater peril, or the fabric of republican 
institutions so threatened and shaken to the very centre. The 
address was perhaps the most unpatriotic utterance of the 
war period, and it maybe supposed, if not with safety affirmed, 
that although it was deliberately adopted by the convention, 
no one except its author was thoroughly imbued with its 
furious disloyalty. When the convention adopted it and 
supplemented it by an avalanche of factious complaints, a 
large number of patriotic citizens who had always adhered 
to the democracy laid aside their party prejudices. Carpen- 
ter, Judge Arthur MacArthur, of Milwaukee, and Charles 
D. Robinson, of Green Bay, issued a circular inviting leading 
democrats in every portion of the state who sympathized 
with their efforts to support the government, to a conference 
at the Newhall House, in Milwaukee, on the 20th day of 
August, 1863, to consider what course should be pursued. 
At this meeting a mass-convention was unanimously agreed 
upon. A call was prepared and signed by all who attended 
the conference. Among the distinguished public men pres- 
ent Carpenter was the leading spirit, and gave the movement 
the inspiration of his abilities and earnestness. The call 
declared: 



THE JANESVILLE CONVENTION. 23 1 

At a time when the government of the United States is struggling for its 
very existence amidst blood and carnage, we observe this convention pro- 
mulgating a voluminous and inflaminatory creed, which contains no re- 
sponse to the unspeakable interests which this immense Rebellion threatens 
with instant ruin. We therefore call upon all who are in favor of the reso- 
lute prosecution of the war to crush out this wicked conspiracy against our 
common liberties, who are in favor of unconditionally supporting the 
government in its efforts and credit, in upholding its laws and replenishing 
its armies until the supremacy of the constitution shall be re established 
over every state, and upon every spot of our domain, to meet in a mass- 
convention to be held at the city of Janesville at twelve M., on the 17th day 
of September, 1S63, for the purpose of mutual consultation, and to decide 
upon such steps as shall appear conducive to the welfare of the country. 1 

A large gathering responded. A. Hyatt Smith called the 
convention to order and Jonathan E. Arnold was its presi- 
dent. A series of resolutions were read by Carpenter, and 
an address to the people of the state was reported, protesting 
against the Madison platform and pledging the heart and 
soul of the state to the support of the government in its 
prosecution of the war. By his counsel and presence Car- 
penter was one of the chief elements of success. In the 

1 It is not intended that this volume shall be a history of everybody's 
political career, but the author has such a high regard for those who 
abandoned their party to serve their country (the soldier, unlike the politi- 
cian, could take his politics with him), that he is determined to give some 
perpetuity to their honor by recording the names of those loyal democrats 
who signed this call : 

Rock county— M. C. Smith, B. F. Pixley, A. Hyatt Smith. L. F. Patten, 
H. Richardson, John Mitchell, O. P Robinson, J. H. Reigart, George 
Benton, E. H. Burdick, S. H. Marquisee. 

Milwaukee county — Matt. H. Carpenter, Levi Blossom, Levi Hubbeli, 
J. E. Arnold, Arthur MacArthur, O. Alexander, H. Potter, Jr., Byron 
Kilbourn, Lyndsey Ward, Geo. H. Walker, J. J. Talmadge, N. B. Caswell, 
A. C. Bentley, Jno. A. Savage, Jr., Erastus Foote, Alanson Sweet, E. H. 
Brodhead, Lester gexton, Joseph C.ary. 

Dodge county — S. W. Herrick, James Thorn 

Brown county — Chas. D. Robinson. 

La Crosse county — A. P. Blakeslee. 

Ozaukee county — Eugene S. Turner. 

Jefferson county — W. W. Hatcher. 

Waukesha county — Henry Totten. 

Fond du Lac county — Edward S. Bragg. 

Walworth county — William C. Allen, H. S. Winsor, E. G. Wheeler. 



232 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

evening he made one of those unpremeditated, ofT-hand 
speeches for which he had become celebrated, which thrilled 
the audience and raised the enthusiasm to the highest pitch 
of patriotic excitement. 

When the work of the convention was done, he and other 
democrats, perhaps already divorced from the democracy 
a mensa et thoro, now became fully divorced a vinculo viatri- 
monii — separated from it never to return. This was the 
complete, or perhaps formal, turning-point in his political 
career, and his subsequent life is proof that the man who 
adheises to his country from a high sense of duty will be 
appreciated and honored. 

The following description is extracted from a sketch of 
the leading war-democrats in attendance at the convention, 
written by Jonas M. Bundy: 

On a step below Walker, and upheld by the kindly extended ramparts of 
locomotive machinery, is the bold, daring and yet clear-seeing young Bay- 
ard of our loyal democracy. That stoutly-built, but compact and finely- 
knit frame, is full of muscular endurance; the veins are full of fresh young 
blood, and the heart full ot enthusiasm. He sits restless, and strokes his 
beard with a quick, nervous movement. He is full-brimming with nervous 
and brain power; is an engine thrilling with pent-up forces. When the 
throttle is opened, there will be a blast which will be worth a thousand 
men. He is a young man, but already one of note; one who is so eloquent 
at the bar or on the platform. The man impresses ^-ou favorably; he wears 
80 haut a crest, as with shield cast aside and lance in rest, he rides down 
the Ryan rabble. With words as smooth as oil, and a smile as sweet as a 
girl's, he impales Sat. Clark,! sitting near, and gives him to infamy here, 
and damnation hereafter. That is Matt. Carpenter. 

ANOTHER CALL. 

Carpenter had become so strong and popular with the 
masses that during the summer of 1864 there was a decided 
manifestation in favor of his nomination as a candidate for 
congress in the Milwaukee district by the Union party, as the 

• Sat Clark was one of the leading democrats who did not join with Car- 
penter in supporting the government during that gloomy period. 



ANOTHER CALL. 233 

republican party and its allies of war-democrats were then 
temporarily called. This brought forth the following letter: 

Milwaukee, Sept. 5, 1S64. 

For some time my name has been mentioned in connection with a nom- 
ination for congress bj the convention to meet at Racine on the 7th inst. 

It is due to myself and to the gentlemen who will constitute that con- 
vention, to say that I could not accept a nomination from them, because it 
might be construed into an indorsement of principles I do not entertain. 
From m}' earliest acquaintance with public afiairs to the firing upon Fort 
Sumter, I was a democrat of the strictest sect in full communion, in theory 
and in practice. When the war came without any excuse or justification 
on the part of the south, it was a clear duty, as I thought, to support the 
administration of the government, although elected against my choice and 
vote, in putting down this Rebellion as summarily as possible. In this I was 
separated from the organization of the democratic party, without, however, 
having changed my views in regard to general politics. If this war should 
continue, my votes and efforts in congress would, I suppose, exactly rep- 
resent the republicans of Wisconsin, because I should support every proper 
measure to strengthen the government and weaken the Rebellion; I would 
not consent to treat with rebels except upon the basis of unconditional sub- 
mission to the authority of the constitution and laws; nor would I consent 
to an armistice without even knowing that rebels wish to return to obedi- 
ence, which, in the present state of afiairs, could have no effect but to aid 
and relieve the rebels and weaken the government. Rebels must submit; 
the government can not yield. 

But should peace be accomplished within the next year, the authority of 
the constitution be fully restored over all the original territory of the Union, 
the Rebellion hide its head, and public afiairs assume their wonted course, 
my line of national policy republicans might think very unsound, and I 
might be subjected to the imputation of having betrayed my constituency 
while acting conscientiously in my belief for the public good. 

Matt. H. Carpenter 

This letter, whose perfect honor and frankness might 
naturally be expected to exert an influence favorable to its 
author, subsequently, when Carpenter became a candidate 
for United States senator, was made a weapon of consider- 
able power and efTect against him. Here was an opportu- 
nity to leap into office unquestioned and unchallenged, without 
being compelled to disclose articles of political faith; so that 
any partisan action subsequently taken could not have been 



234 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

a betrayal of anything or anybody. Yet he refused to ac- 
cept it, and subsequently was compelled to suffer for 
pursuing the honorable course. 

When the convention referred to assembled at Racine, 
two days after the publication of the letter, Peter Yates, of 
Milwaukee, presented Carpenter's name in a very strong 
speech. He always maintained that had Carpenter signified 
his willingness to accept, he could have been nominated and 
elected. As it was, he received a large complimentary vote 
in the convention. 

He supported the republican ticket and spoke throughout 
the state every night, and frequently two or three times 
a day until election. At a great mass-meeting in Milwaukee, 
he alluded to the calling: of the national democratic conven- 
tion at Chicago on the 4th of July and its subsequent 
postponement, saying: 

The rascals did not dare to meet on that day. When thej finally met, 
what was the result? McClcllan and Pendleton — the former for war, " per- 
haps," the latter for peace by all means and on any ternvs; and that was 
the feast to which the democracy were invited. McClellan was kept 
cooped up for foiu-teen days, not knowing what to do, or w hether to do 
anything. Meanwhile Sherman was thundering at the gates of Atlanta, 
and Atlanta fell. Then was the spectacle witnessed that every success of 
the war for the restoration of the government was a gigantic blow against 
the democracy. After fourteen days of fasting McClellan's letter was 
written, a letter which presented the strange anomaly of being interpreted 
to mean both war and peace. McClellan was pledged to this platform — 
just such a platform as JclT. Davis would have written. 

Lincoln has honestly been endeavoring to put down the Rebellion and 
should receive the hearty support of all men. If we believe the rebels 
right, then is the war wrong. If the government was right in going into 
war, then is it right now. The people are pledged to the support of this 
government, not to the 4th of March next, but for ten generations — for 
all time. The north has been enjoying peace, plenty and prosperity, yet 
we hear grumbling at the high taxes, the sacrifices; go south and note the 
sacrifices there made for an unholy cause; there you will see no carpets, they 
have been torn up to cover the soldiers in the field. Diamonds and rubies 
have been given to the cause — bells no longer swing in their places, calling 
the people to the sanctuary, but, transformed into cannon, are thundering 
against the friends of the government. The whole population has been 



CIRCUMCISION WITHOUT REGENERATION. 235 

swept into the army ; so patriotic are the ladies that they will not even 
marry a man unless he has been in the army. If another draft should 
come, I appeal to the ladies not selfishly to fold their sons, their husbands' 
their brothers and lovers to their breasts, but freely give them up to their 
country. 

This, the first meeting of the campaign, was an unprece- 
dented success, sending enthusiasm and hope down through 
every subsequent gathering to the day of election. A news- 
paper of the following morning thus describes the occasion: 

Such a mass of human heads, such a sea of upturned faces, from gal- 
lery, dress-circle, parquette and stage, never before greeted orator or exhibi- 
tion in that building — and all with very little preliminary effort. No gun 
was fired, no drum beat, no instrument, brazen or otherwise, gave out its 
noise to attract a crowd. The simple newspaper and hand-bill announce- 
ment that " Hon. Matt. H. Carpenter would speak," was all there was of it. 
And we are not sure but as many went away, utterly unable to get sitting 
or standing room, as remained. 

CIRCUMCISION WITHOUT REGENERATION. 

During the latter part of September, 1864, a large num- 
ber of the leading citizens of Green county signed a paper 
inviting Carpenter to " deliver an address to the Union men 
of Green county upon the leading issues of the day and the 
duty of the hour." He replied: 

Milwaukee, Oct. 4, 1864, 
John A. Brigham, Esq., and others: 

Gentlemen — Yours of the ist instant, inviting me to address the Union 
men of your county at Monroe, on the 17th, is received. Three or four 
courts claim my attendance this month. I have no partner, and my clerk 
is in an eastern state rendering the last rites of affection and respect at the 
grave of a brother slain by treason ; and thus I am literally alone. 

Besides, Green county, and Rock and Walworth, are all right. They 
need no rallying to the duty of patriotism; " the whole need not a physi- 
cian." What little I can do, if anything, towards rousing the people, I 
ought to do nearer home. In this congressional district General Halbert 
E. Paine, one of the noblest and bravest of men, is running against John 
W. Cary, Esq., one of the yet impenitent makers of the Ryan address; 
who would, if elected, do all in his power to paralyze the efforts of the 
government in prosecuting the war; who would vote for immediate cessa- 
tion of hostilities, knowing that thereby only rebels would prosper, and 
disunion and national disgrace would be the sure consequence of such folly. 



236 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

There is but one issue, and that rises transcendent above all party ties or 
duties. The government must be preserved by overthrowing this Rebell- 
ion, or it is immaterial whether democrats or republicans prevail ; for we 
shall all be overwhelmed in common ruin. The rebels propose no argu- 
ment, offer no reason. They have appealed from courts, from congresses, 
from all peaceful arbitrament to the dire trial by battle; and in the field we 
must meet them or cower and flee before them. There is but one remedy — 
the sword, luell laid on. 

I hoped last fall that the democratic party — temporarily all wrong — would 
rise from its defeat a better and a wiser party. But the event has not ful- 
filled the hope. The Chicago platform is even worse, because briefer and 
plainer, than the Ryan address. The democratic party has submitted to 
circumcision but has experienced no regeneration. It must take one more 
bitter draught. Democrats who cherish its historic glory, and firmly be- 
lieve the truth of its ancient and essential doctrines, must stand aloof from 
its chastisement and weep four years longer. 

During that penitential season, its leaders will have time again to con- 
sider whether they will longer follow the example and share the fate of the 
Hartford convention of federalists, or return to early teachings, and emu- 
late the ])atriotic devotion of their political fathers. 

Give my greeting to the Union men of Old Green, and I will wait for 
them to respond at the polls. Matt. H. Carpenter. 

This letter takes all the stings out of the Reed letter of the 
year before, regarding both as political enunciations, which 
they were not. When the Reed letter was written there was 
no political struggle pending, and Carpenter, unable to 
smother all his love for those principles which made demo- 
crats honorable before the days of Buchanan and secession, 
and hoping, no doubt, to win them from the dangerous paths 
they were treading, paid a provisional tribute to his early polit- 
ical tenets; but when the letter to John A. Brigham was 
written, there was pending a presidential campaign between 
two parties, standing upon opposing platforms, and he must 
choose between them. The proviso demanded of the demo- 
crats as necessary to earn publjc confidence had been violated 
or neglected, and he demonstrated his consistency by acting 
with that partisan organization whose platform and principles 
came nearest to conforming with his ideas of patriotism and 
a successful war policy, namely, the republican or Union 
party. 

I 



THE ANCIENT SPRINGS. 237 



THE ANCIENT SPRINGS. 

The war-democrats of Rock county signed a letter praying 
Carpenter to deliver an address at a meeting to be held in 
Janesville, November 7, 1864. He replied: 

Milwaukee, Oct. 24, 1864. 
A. Hyatt Smith, Esq., and others: 

Gentlemen — Yours of the 22d instant is received, and I most cheerfully 
accept your kind invitation. 

Amid the perils and persecutions that assailed the early church, a faithful 
few remained obedient to the Christian faith; and in loneliness and sorrow, 
in separation and exile, deserted by leaders, and in perils " by false breth- 
ren," followed the precepts of the great teacher, and, strengthened by per- 
secutions, rallied and advanced to evangelize the world. 

Democracy, the hand- maid of religion, whose golden rule — equality of 
rights, and the greatest good to the greatest number — second only, in 
sublimity and beneficence, to the golden rule of our holy religion, is now 
suffering its trial season; and our faith in truth, in justice, and in the intel- 
ligence and patriotism of the great masses of the people, is our only guid- 
ing star amid the gloom that surrounds us. They who ought to have been 
our leaders, whose counsels should have pointed the democracy to the war 
path, are crying peace, disgraceful, disastrous peace; beckoning the democ- 
racy away from the field of duty, danger, and glory, and leading us with 
unerring certainty to the graves where federalism and whiggery are rotting 
in their shrouds. In their platform, in their speeches, from their press, no 
word of cheer, no hopefulness, no exultation; no word of encouragement to 
our brave army; no pledge of assistance to our tormented government; no 
condemnation of rebellion and treason. The faction that controlled the 
Chicago convention belied the history of our party, and disgraced its 
name. It has no claim to the support of democrats. Where is the young 
ardor of patriotism, the hopeful endeavor, the " public defiance " of danger, 
that made the glory of democracy, and challenged the admiration of the 
world.? Gone — all gone. And instead, we have in the platform an indict- 
ment of our government as bitter as JefF. Davis could draft; we are told 
that circumcised brokers are the only proper guardians of the labor and 
muscle of the country; that Grant, Sherman and Sheridan must stand 
aside, and negotiators, red, not with blood, but tape, must lead our armies; 
that the white flag is our proper ensign ; and that these rebels, who have 
betrayed and ruined our party, and threaten to overthrow the government, 
must be soothed and entreated; and if they must be enveloped in smoke, it 
must proceed not from the fire of battle, but the pipe of peace. Democracy 
has at all times held other language to its own and the nation's enemies. 



238 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

To all this craven crying for peace let me quote from the eloquent, patri- 
otic and soul-moving speech of Hon. Jonathan E. Arnold in the Janesville 
convention a year ago. Speaking of the idea that we must hold out the 
olive branch of peace to these rebels, Mr. Arnold said : " Now, gentlemen, 
how utterly futile is any such idea.-* Hoiv disloyal any such prof osition. Will 
the south listen to offers of peace.' Who has intimated it? What public 
paper has proclaimed it, or what leading statesman of the south has sug- 
gested it.? Not one. On the contrary, they have said no terms of peace 
would ever be listened to except based upon the recognition of their inde- 
pendence. Wliy, i/iejt, should -we hold out the olive branch of peace? In addi- 
tion to what they have said, there is the undeniable fact that they have an 
immense army in the field which must be put down if this Rebellion be 
ever crushed." And again, " What we want, then, is to whip the enemy; 
that is to be done by soldiers in the field. Hence I say it is wrong to talk 
of ending this Rebellion by propositions of peace. I trust in God the time 
will come when we may hold out the olive branch, but that must be after 
Charleston and Mobile have been taken and the army of Virginia luis been 
■whipped r 

It is understood Mr. Arnold has left us, seeing his duty at present in sup- 
port of McClellan and defense of the Chicago platform; but, thank God, he 
has not taken this noble speech -with him. That remains to us, an imperishable 
lesson of patriotic duty, which it should be our highest ambition to cherish 
and execute. 

I will be with you on the 7th of November. Then we will consult 

together of our dutj' in these perilous times, renew our pledge to the only 

faith, and drinh again at the ancient springs. 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 

He was present as promised and made a rousing speech. 



RECONSTRUCTION — NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 239 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

RECONSTRUCTION — NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 

Carpenter was able to take but little part in the campaign 
of 1865. He was engaged in the Hasbrouck suit and in de- 
fending ex-Governor Edward Salomon in the action brought, 
as we have seen, by John Druecker, of Ozaukee county, for 
alleged false imprisonment. While not thus engaged, he was 
in Washington attending to his railway litigation. However, 
he attracted the attention of the statesmen and jurists of the 
republic by a series of interrogations upon Negro suffrage 
and the reconstruction of the south. 

Brigadier-General William T. Sherman, iipon invitation, 
was present at the Wisconsin state fair held at Janesville. On 
the evening of September 29th, at the close of the fair, a ban- 
quet was given in his honor. About a hundred distinguished 
men were present. Governor James T. Lewis presided, with 
General Sherman on his right and Carpenter on his left. 
Numerous toasts met with patriotic responses. Carpenter 
being called upon to reply to " The loyal American people, 
always faithful to the Union." He had a noble audience — 
generals, governors, ex-governors, United States senators, 
philosophers, judges, politicians and patriots — and his utter- 
ances secured profound attention. Indeed they were so re- 
markable that a petition numerously signed was dispatched 
praying for a copy of them for publication. After declaring 
that he spoke for the people, being neither a partisan nor a 
politician, he said: 

One of the war-democrats of Wisconsin, I enlisted as a private in the 
great Union organization formed to sustain the government in the vigorous 
prosecution of the war, and the war being over, I am entitled to an honor- 
able discharge, and to be mustered out of the service of that organization. 
I have not yet applied for re-admission into the democratic party, from 
which I was expelled with indignant emphasis, on suspicion of the un- 
speakable and unpardonable crime of patriotism. 



240 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Then, paying a splendid tribute to the people who, in 
agony and bloody-sweat, had carried the nation safely 
through all its trials, he took up the great subjects of recon- 
struction and Negro suffrage, addressing himself pointedly to 
Senators Howe and Doolittle, who were present. He held 
that the southern states, by their treason and rebellion, had 
gone out of the Union — destroyed their former governments 
and become public enemies, which, upon being conquered, 
were liable to be reconstructed and governed in any manner 
deemed advisable by the conquering power. This being 
his first discussion of those stupendous questions which sub- 
sequently made him famous — his theories becoming the 
reconstruction policy of the federal government — a portion, 
at least, of his original reasoning should be preserved: 

It is said and admitted that the constitution declares that the general gov- 
ernment, and its relation to the states, and their relation to it, and to each 
other, as fixed by the constitution, shall remain forever, and that it is a 
crime to change those relations. But is it true that a crime against the 
constitution can not be cominitted? The constitution forbade, but did it 
prevent the Rebellion? Is it true that a state of things established by com- 
petent authority must remain until changed by the same authority? It is 
said the last order General Banks gave on the Red River was to form the 
line of battle; is that battle line still existing, and will it require an act of 
congress or an order from General Banks to remove it? The state com- 
mands us to do no murder; does it follow that no murder can be committed, 
or that the state can not regard and punish it? It is true that treason of an 
individual is contemplated and punished hy law; it is true that rebellion bv 
a state is not contemplated; but does it follow that rebellion by a state can 
not be regarded, and all its consequences must be disregarded because its 
precise punishment is not fixed bylaw? Suppose tlie state of Mississippi 
alone had rebelled, and persisted in war until the state was completely des- 
olated, depopulated ; would the barren and unoccupied square miles geo- 
graphically called Mississippi remain the state of Mississippi within the 
meaning of the word state as used in the constitution ; and would those 
square miles have remained in precisely the same relations with the gen- 
eral government as the state of New York? 

There is another subject, which, from its exceeding importance, ought to 
be mentioned in this connection ; and, although a candidate would as soon 
see the devil as hear any allusion to it, the people are anxious to hear their 
senators discuss the question of Negro su^'rage. 



RECONSTRUCTION — NEGRO SUFFRAGE. 24I 

Are the freedmen to be admitted en masse as voters upon all subjects, 
and made eligible to the highest offices of responsibility and trust? Such 
are not the precedents of history. The old Roman who manumitted his 
slave, struck off his gyves, clothed him in white and placed the cap of lib- 
erty upon his brow. He was then a freeman, but not a citizen of Rome, 
though he might thereafter become a citizen. But suppose we of Wiscon- 
sin are all in favor of Negro suffrage, all vote for it here ; how are we to 
regulate the subject in Mississippi.-* Can the general government declare 
who shall be voters or eligible to office in the state.'' Must not that subject 
be regulated by the state itself, if we intend hereafter to have any states .-' 
It is idle to contend for mere general principles or abstract and barren 
declarations of right; we want some practical views leading to practical 
ends. This subject must be met by our statesmen, and must be treated in 
a manly and statesmanlike way. It is useless to appeal to our prejudices; 
we can not be intimidated by denunciation, nor silenced by an adjective. The 
war has induced a new state of things; those who were slaves are now 
freemen. Many of them will accumulate property; all must be subject to 
some government having civil and criminal jurisdiction over them. To 
say that his property should be taxed to support the government, and his 
person drafted into the army to defend it, and yet he shall have no voice in 
making the laws, nor vote upon the question of peace or war, nor have 
protection for his person and property, is to say that he shall remain a 
slave in fact, no matter by what name called. 

But suppose you could give the freedmen the right to vote; is not the 
right to sue (to say nothing of the privilege of being sued), the right to 
testify as a witness in courts of justice, and many other things, as indis- 
pensable to the Negro as the right to vote.'' Can the general government 
compel the states to perform these necessar}' things.'* Suppose these un- 
welcome provisions were forced into the constitutions of all the southern 
states, wko is to expound and administer them? Would you not thus secure 
to the freedman a barren and useless declaration of his rights, and leave 
the states to regard them as they pleased .'* To carry these provisions into 
practice, would it not be necessary to abolish the machinery of state govern- 
ments, and for the general government to take to itself all local as well as 
general administration; and would not this concentrate power to such an 
extent as greatly to endanger popular liberty } 

By the basis of representation as fixed by the constitution, five slaves 
were equal to three freemen; so that the south will gain two-fifths in 
representation by the abolition of slavery. Ought the southern states to 
represent millions of freemen who have no voice in the government.'* 
Would a state in which the number of black freemen exceeded the number 
of whites, and which was represented only by the whites, be such a repub- 
lican government as the constitution makes it the duty of the Union to 
16 



242 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

guaranty to each state? Could not the houses of congress exclude senators 
and representatives thus elected by a minority of freemen? 

The people are strongly attached to the doctrine that every state has the 
right to regulate its own affairs and determine who shall and shall not con- 
stitute a part of the state community, and vote or be eligible to office. But 
when a state has settled this question for itself, it must abide the result of 
that determination in all its federal relations. If South Carolina decides 
that the blacks of that state are not citizens, though born upon her soil, 
then she should not be permitted to represent them in congress. This is a 
matter that concerns tlie Union at large, and the Union may therefore settle it. 

Would not the Negro, if thus rejected by the states, become the -ward of the 
government^ and, like the Indian, be entitled to claim its protection? Could 
not congress legislate for him in all his relations, secure to him the wages 
of labor, and fix the conditions upon which he may become a citizen of the 
United States? This would involve the necessity of establishing national 
courts for administering justice between black and white men. What else 
is the Freedmen's Bureau? The constitution provides for no such thing, 
but it has been forced upon the government by the necessity of the case. 
Justice must be administered between black and white men upon terms of 
absolute equality; contracts must be construed and judgments enforced re- 
gardless of the complexion of the parties ; and both or neither must be per- 
mitted to testify in such causes. 

The objection most likely to be argued to this view of the subject is, that 
it is not provided for by the constitution. But does not this objection 
apply equally to every remedy that has been suggested? Revolutions go 
forward; public men and public policy must look to the future and not 
to the past. The constitution was framed with great wisdom for the then 
existing condition of things. It regulated public and private rights grow- 
ing out of the institution of slavery. But -we are all agreed that there shall 
be no more slavery; and the constitution must be amended to suit this altered 
state of affairs. Our whole system rests upon the theory that the states are 
to be trusted with local administration over their own citizens. This can 
not be disregarded without demolishing the whole fabric of our nationality. 
This principle is the corner-stone upon which everything rests. But may 
it not be preserved, and the constitution be so amended as to give the gen- 
eral government control over the Negro as it now has over the Indian? 
Provision might be made that whenever any Negro should be admitted to 
citizL-nship in the state in which he resided, he should be thus transferred 
to state jurisdiction. Our own state constitution piovides that whenever 
an Indian shall separate from his tribe and adopt the habits of civilized 
life, he shall be entitled to vote. Would not this arrangement strongly in- 
duce the southern states to admit Negroes to citizenship, as rapidly as con- 
sistent with domestic interests, and at the same time accomplish more fully 



THE VOTARIES OF "MY POLICY. 243 

than any other method the great duty we owe, and can not disregard with- 
out national disgrace, of protecting these freedmen who have shed their 
blood in defense of the nation's existence, against the malice and oppression 
of their angry and baffled masters? 

THE VOTARIES OF "MY POLICY." 

In 1866, the country was excited over the conflict between 
President Andrew Johnson and the Union (republican) party 
in congress as to reconstructing the states lately in rebellion. 
James R. Doolittle, elected by the republicans to represent 
Wisconsin in the United States senate, had " johnsonized.'* 
Ex-Governor Alex. W. Randall had also "Johnsonized," and 
both were receiving the people's anathemas of indignation. 
Both attempted to defend themselves, and in a public speech 
Randall declared the friends of congress dare not meet the 
friends of Johnson in public debate. Thereupon, James B. 
Cassoday, A. M. Thomson, Ithamer C. Sloan and other 
leading citizens petitioned Carpenter to meet Doolittle for 
joint discussion. He answered: 

Milwaukee, Sept. 10, 1866. 
A. M. Thomson, Esq., and others : 

Gentlemen — Yours of the 8th, in regard to a public discussion between 
myself and Senator Doolittle, is received; and, in reply, I would say that 
on any daj' after the 25th inst., and before the election, it will give me 
pleasure to comply with your request. 

I am principally induced to accept your invitation because I regard it as 
a matter of justice to Senator Doolittle. The loyal Union men of Wiscon- 
sin, who elected Mr. Doolittle to the senate, believe he has betrayed them; 
while he claims, I believe, that he has not changed, but the people have 
deserted him. A public discussion before an audience composed of all 
shades of political sentiment is the best and fairest occasion for determining 
whether the senator or the people have taken the side-track in politics; who 
is true and who is false to the principles we all advocated during the war. 
Therefore, should Senator Doolittle desire such discussion — as I have no 
doubt he -will — I should feel bound to accommodate him, under the peculiar 
circumstances. 

Again, I regard discussions, where different speakers are brought face to 
face, as the fairest method of conducting any canvass. It is necessary for 
the people to hear and consider both sides before they can form an intelli- 
gent judgment. The issues presented during the war were not more 
important, or even vital, to our national existence and to civil liberty itself. 



244 ^'^^ ^^ CARPENTER. 

than those which constitute the problems of peace. The people must settle 
these questions; they hold the destinies of the constitution and the Union. 
It is for them to say whether unrepentant, unpardoned rebels and traitors 
are the safest repositories of the power ot the government, or whether they 
should be invited — nay, compelled — "to take back seats " in the recon- 
struction of civil governments. It is for the people to say whether the 
congress shall remain the law-making department of the government, and 
the President the executive of their will, as expressed in the laws passed by 
them, or whether congress shall hereafter be regarded as a voluntary con- 
vention of individuals "on the verge of the government," whose acts only 
are valid when they echo the will and perform the bidding of the President. 

It has ever been the American theory that power is more safely lodged 
in the many than the few — in the congress than with the President. But 
all this is now questioned; and the President in his late tour — in which he 
has seen fit to turn the sad solemnities of a funeral into the violence of a 
political raid, thus giving the people fresh cause for regretting the death of 
Douglas, which has furnished such an unfortunate occasion — the Presi- 
dent is cautioning the people against the danger of tyranny and despotism 
from the representatives of their own selection, asserting that nothing but 
his virtue has prevented his becoming dictator long smce, and assuring the 
people that he is their friend, and the only safe repository of public confi- 
dence and political power. So Augustus consummated the usurpations 
that his kindness had commenced, with the sword, and overthrew the liber- 
ties of Rome under the forms of law. So Cromwell first declared the par- 
liament an illegal body "on the verge of the government" and then dispersed 
them with bayonets. So Napoleon, as first consul, gradually acquired all 
power and subverted the liberties of France. It is for the people to con- 
sider whether the President, in his protestation that the people are enslaved, 
and he is their friend, laboring for their emancipation, is acting sincerely 
and wisely, or playing the role that all usurpers have played since C;Esar 
crossed the Rubicon. These are mighty considerations, pregnant with 
good or evil for us and for all generations. 

By all means give the senator a chance to satisfy us that what we believe 
to be truth is really falsehood; that what we deem security is really danger; 
that congress can not be trusted and that the President can be; that loyalty 
is unconstitutional and traito s entitled to scats in conjjress and the cabinet. 
It is due to him, due to ourselves, due to justice and civil liberty, to hear 
all that can be said. The senator is the President's special representative; 
he will speak by authority. It will therefore be in his power to allay a 
painful public apprehension of future danger if the fact be otherwise; and 
if, alter a full hearing and fair chance, he fails to do this, his failure will 
be of public service by tending to arouse the people to guard against or 
meet and overcome future troubles. 

Very respectfully, Matt. H. Carpenter. 



IMMORTAL LOGIC. 24$ 

Mr. Doolittle also received a petition begging him to meet 
Carpenter. He declined, but issued a circular just as he left 
the state, which called out this reply: 

Milwaukee, Sept ii, 1866. 
Messrs. B. B. Northrop and others, Racine: 

Gentlemen — I have received wfhat purports to be a printed circular pub- 
lished by Hon. J. R. Doolittle, in which he addresses you as follows: 

" Gentlemen : — Your note is received asking me to join in a political dis- 
cussion with Matt. H. Carpenter, Esq., of Milwaukee, upon the policy of 
reconstruction maintained by the administration and the National Union 
party. 

" My engagements to speak in the states of Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylva- 
nia will render it impossible for me to make any such arrangement. 

" I am not a little surprised that Mr. Carpenter's name should be used, for 
not long ago, in Washington, he indorsed, in the most unequivocal terms, 
the President's policy, and urged me to stand firmly by him." 

I can well conceive that the senator would be surprised to hear that any 
man had changed his political views. I well remember my own surprise 
when the senator turned his back upon all his former opinions and profes- 
sions and went over to the republicans ; and my still greater surprise when 
he abandoned the Union organization that had elected him to the senate 
and went over to the camp of his "captured" copperheads. But in this in- 
stance the senator's surprise is manufactured for a purpose. 

The senator's chronic habit of publishing private conversations involves 
nothing but a breach of good breeding, but it is something worse when, as 
in this instance, the conversation has to be first invented. I never ex- 
changed a word with Senator Doolittle in regard to the President's policy — 
approving or disapproving; I never urged him to stand firmly by the 
President; I never requested him to desert and betray the President, as he 
surely will when treachery becomes more profitable than fealty, and the state- 
ment of his circular in that behalf is utterly untrue. 

Considering, however, the result that has followed the senator's mission- 
ary labors in Maine, I think it would be unwise to throw any obstacle in 
the way of his stumping Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and such other states 
as it may be convenient for him to visit 

Respectfully yours, Matt. H. Carpenter. 

IMMORTAL LOGIC. 

As all efforts to induce any of Johnson's supporters to meet 
Carpenter failed, a paper containing the signatures of hun- 
dreds of influential citizens was sent to him, asking " the pleas- 



246 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

ure of hearing his views." He replied favorably, and appeared 
at the Academy of Music in Milwaukee on the evening of Oc- 
tober 4, 1866. There was present a brilliant audience — the 
wealth, beauty, patriotism and brains of the community. In 
that speech he outlined the arguments subsequently made in 
the McCardle case, and laid down the principles on which 
all tlie reconstruction acts of congress were based. 

In the light of succeeding events it was a remarkable 
address. He delineated the policy of Johnson and that of the 
Union members of congress so clearly that a child ten years 
of age could understand either. Johnson's plan was to admit 
the senators and representatives of the de facto governments 
of the lately rebellious states, ask no questions about the 
past, require no guaranties for the future. The plan of con- 
gress did not recognize the President as having authority in 
the premises, but formulated an amendment ^ to the United 
States constitution, which the rebellious states must ratify 
before re-entering the Union. Carpenter argued at length 
that " the constitution in no instance clothes the executive 
with power over or a right to interfere with the states. That 
whenever that power is granted, it is vested in the govern- 
ment of the United States, and not in the President." 
Further: 

When Lee and Johnston surrendered, the usurping state governments 
■were overthrown and the people in those localities were left without any 
state corporations. This was one of the "extraordinary" occasions mentioned 
in the constitution, in which the President would have been justified in 
calhng an extra session of congress. * * Congress would have made such 
laws as the occasion demanded, and it would have been the President's duty 
to execute them. * * Instead of this, he assumed to control this matter 
according to his individual views, and proceeded without sanction of law to 
dictate to the southern states the terms of re-admission. * * Congress 
met and thought other terms should be imposed ; and he, instead of yield- 
ing gracefully to the people as expressed by congress, * * attempted to 
defy their laws by vetoes; and denouncing their leaders as traitors, appealed 
to the people to sustain his usurpations. 

1 The fourteenth amendment, subsequently adopted, but suggested by 
Carpenter more than a year before. 



IMMORTAL LOGIC. 247 

He then, after quoting the decisions of the ablest judges in 
America to sustain his theory that the President had no 
power over the states, proceeded to examine the conditions 
congress proposed to impose upon the south preparatory to 
re-admission to the Union. He claimed that congress, under 
the constitution, had this power beyond a doubt, the only 
question being as to the wisdom of the conditions. He argued : 

In 1S62 and 1863 there was in North Carolina a dc facto state govern- 
ment — and but one; making laws, administering justice, exercising all the 
powers of a sovereign community, and actually levying war upon the 
United States. Noiv was that state government of North Carolina during 
tJtose years, and while so levying war, entitled to be represented in congress? 

It was certainly not the same state government that became a member of 
the Union by ratifying the constitution, and remained in the Union until 
sometime in i860 or 1S61. On the contrary it had supplanted the old state 
government in every respect. Its officers were sworn not to support, but to 
overthrow the constitution of the United States. It had no relations, 
and under its constitution could have none, with the United States. Every 
officer of that state government would have been guilty of treason to it, 
had he performed any of the duties towards the United States that the con- 
stitution of the old state government enjoined up07t its officers. The new 
state had never been admitted into the Union; and of course could not be, 
ior its constitution was in deadly antagonism with the constitution of the 
Union. The new state government was formed upon the ruins of the old, 
and instead of claiming fellowship with the Union, had applied for and re- 
ceived admission into another de facto confederacy of states which was at 
war with the United States. 

To overlook the fact that eleven such states existed, exercising sovereign 
authority over eight millions of people, with a well-deiined territory held 
in hostility to the United States, and were actually waging against our 
government, the most gigantic war of inodern times, merely because it ivas 
unconstitutional for them to do so, would have been the blindest devotion to 
an idea the world has ever seen; a devotion better becoming a monk in his 
retirement, or a lunatic in his cell, than a statesman charged with the prac- 
tical administration of political affairs. 

When the southern states declared their purpose to go out of the Union, 
we raised an army and poured out treasure and blood to prevent their 
doing what they threatened to do. If those states had determined to pull the 
sun down from the heavens on a day named, and leave the Yankee land 
in darkness, we should not have raised an army to prevent it. We should 
have reposed upon the knowledge that the thing was impossible. But 
when they threatened to divide the dominions of our government, and 



248 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

take one-half, nearly, into another independent nal.ion, we raised an army 
to prevent it; because this act, though wrongful and unconstitutional, was, 
nevertheless, possible. We fought to prevent this wrong, and succeeded. 
The dominion of the United States to the Gulf is vindicated, established 
for all time. But the terrible result of the struggle, the desolated fields, 
burned towns, ruined commerce and three hundred thousand graves of 
loyal soldiers, though unconstitutional, are existing facts. And the mere 
theory that the constitution forbade all these things, can no more resusci- 
tate the dead state governments, which were destroyed by the madness of 
their people, than it can recall to life our "noble army of martyrs" now 
sleeping in southern graves. 

No government, no constitution can prevent the fact of murder, rebellion 
or treason. But a government may, and the United States has, vindicated 
its authority, and may visit penal consequences upon the criminal of- 
fenders. It would be a strange plea in bar to an indictment for murder or 
treason, that the constitution and laws have forbidden such an offense; 
therefore, in legal contemplation, it could not be, and of course has not 
been, committed. 

Illustration of our subject may be found in the uniform practice of the 
government in admitting territories as new states. When a territory 
has the requisite population, it becomes the duty of congress to admit her 
as a state. But suppose congress omit or refuse to perform this duty; can 
the people without an enabling act form a republican state government, 
and then, can the President so recognize it as a state as to entitle it to rep- 
resentation in congress without the consent of congress.' 

Again, we have seen that the United States must guaranty — that is, 
take care — that every state has a republican form of government. Suppose, 
now, that a constitutional convention should be regularly convened in New 
York to change its constitution, and that this convention should declare 
Charles O'Conor king (the wisdom of that selection would redeem the 
folly of the act) with power to name his successor, and with power to ap- 
point and remove at pleasure the members of the legislature and the judges 
of the courts, and should in every respect change the government of that 
state into the form of a monarchy, without, however, interfering with the 
United States, or nullifying any act of congress ; without impeding tlie post-' 
office or hindering the collection of the revenue; and after ratification by 
the people. King Charles I, of New York, should be crowned. In such a 
case the duty of the general government to interfere would be plain. But 
what could the President do until congress should pass some law upon the 
subject for him to execute? The condition of tiie states lately in rebellion 
is the same. 

Having established, as he thought, the power and expedi- 
ency of imposing conditions upon the south by congress, 



IMMORTAL LOGIC. 249 

Carpenter approved the conditions as described in the reso- 
lution for the fourteenth amendment, then pending. He de- 
clared with great emphasis in favor of unrestricted suflrage 
for the Negro, saying: 

Disguise it as you will, the Lite war was fought between freedom and 
slavery, and, as was to be expected, freedom triumphed. As a consequence, 
four million slaves, more or less, have become freemen. * * To admit 
them, degraded by life-long slavery, to the right of suffrage, without edu- 
cation or discipline of any kind, is a severe trial of our American principle. 
But there is no alternative. They must be admitted or the principle upon 
which all our institutions rest must be abandoned. * * We now have a 
practical test. If we say the principle is unsound when absolutely ex- 
pressed ; that certain limitations must be imposed ; certain persons excluded, 
then come the questions, Who shall be excluded.' What shall be the 
standard of admission to the right of suffrage.' If you go back on the gen- 
eral principle, no man can say where disqualifications will end. Different 
rules will be established in different states, and in the same state at differ- 
ent times, as one faction or another gains ascendency, and the American 
principle, the corner-stone of our political philosophy, will be gone forever. 
* * But of all possible tests, the most absurd would be that of com- 
plexion. * * The property of the black is equally subject to taxation 
and his person subject to draft in time of war as that of the white man. 
Why should not one as well as the other have a voice in selecting the offi- 
cers by whom his property is to be taxed, or in determining the question of 
peace or war? * * For one I believe in the democratic dogma upon 
which our institutions rest; for one I am willing to follow where demo- 
cratic principles lead. If a principle be sound in itself, sound as a principle, 
and a Negro comes within it, I say good for the Negro! * * All gen- 
eral truths, all democratic maxims, must be of universal application, as the 
sun shines upon the just and the unjust. * * I am satisfied liberty is a bless- 
ing, and that all free men ought to have a voice in their government. I am 
ready to stand by the experiment of extending these principles to all 
races and all nations. I look upon the future with confidence, and hope 
to live long enough to see universal truths universally applied; to see free 
black men exercising equal civil rights with white men; to see Irishmen 
governing their own land as Englishmen govern theirs. * * Let all who 
love liberty, all who believe all men should be free and every nation inde- 
pendent, labor together. Let us applaud this amendment to our own con- 
stitution which congress has proposed in the interest of universal liberty, 
and whenever and wherever we can speak a word or give a vote for truth 
and justice, liberty and equality, let us do so, trusting that in God's good 
time these principles will bear fruit in every clime and ransom every people. 



250 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

The broad and noble doctrines of this speech were widely 
published, though the newspaper synopsis of them was no 
more like the real effort than a skinned and disfigured saw- 
log is like the symmetry and majesty of the lordly pine. 
They were read and approved in every community, and 
contributed as much as any other influence to insure the rati- 
fication by the states of the fourteenth amendment. 

Carpenter was now the most popular man in the state, and 
every night until the day of election addressed, in all the 
leading cities, audiences greater than his voice could com- 
pass. He was followed everywhere by a perfect ovation, the 
entire loyal or Union population turning out to hear him 
urge the election of the Union candidates. 

THE DEMOCRACY AGITATED 

When he came before the public clearly and boldly in 
espousal of the policy of congress and the republican party, 
violent commotion was observable in the ranks of the John- 
son democracy. He not only became the target for a lively 
fusilade from democratic orators, but received raking broad- 
sides from their newspapers. They had not simply lost a vote 
or an eloquent voice, but something far more important. 
Hundreds and thousands of democrats who had been 
estranged by the Rebellion were supposed, after its close, to 
still entertain such kindly feelings for the old party as, if left 
uninfluenced, would lead them back into its ranks. 

These were following Carpenter like sheep. Towering 
above the multitude, as the glittering snow that crowns the 
highest mountain-peak rivets the eye and guides the footsteps 
of the benighted traveler, his clear logic illumined the way 
and led the patriotic but wavering democracy over to repub- 
licanism. Those who understand the metiiods of partisan 
journalism will not, therefore, wonder at the quality or the 
volume of the attack on him by the opposition newspapers. 
He was for some time referred to by them as the " Belial of 
Radicalism." But he was riirht. There is not in the sermon 



THE DEMOCRACY AGITATED. 25 1 

on the mount more eloquent truth than may be found in 
Carpenter's Academy of Music speech of October 4, 1866, 
and no human record contains a more logical and powerful 
appeal for equal suffrage. 

In 1867, he was chosen a delegate to the Union republican 
state convention, which met at Madison September 4th and 
nominated Lucius Fairchild for governor. He represented 
the fourth senatorial district in this convention. On the 26th 
of September, during the progress of the state fair in Madi- 
son, he addressed a very large audience in the assembly 
chamber of the capitol, urging that those who supported the 
war must, to continue their patriotism to full fruition, support 
the republican party. He said: 

So you see the issue remains to-day precisely what it was during the war. 
You see the same men are arrayed on the same side of the question. The 
contest is only changed from the field of battle into the arena of politics. 
The contestants are the same — the contest is the same, the individuals on 
the right hand and on the left hand remain in precisely the same relative posi- 
tions and are making the same relative efforts that they were making in 
'61, '62, '63 and '64. It is the duty of the republican party, and all who sup- 
ported the war, to not only give the Negroes rights, but to secure to them 
those rights. If they hesitate and falter, if they change their plan and pur- 
pose to wipe out all the consequences of slavery in these southern states — 
to protect every black man, the humblest and feeblest in all the south, in 
his full equality and rights before the law — then they have thrown away 
all this treasure, they have wasted all this blood for nothing; and they are 
to stand charged with all the consequences that must result from that cow- 
ardice and treachery to their own principles and their own professions. 



252 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

FIRST SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN. 

Probably but few persons ever knew precisely how Car- 
penter came to make his distinguished vault from private 
citizenship to a seat in the senate of the United States. Sub- 
sequently, when questioned in relation to it, he replied that 
it was an astonishing circumstance that he had never been 
able to fully explain — of which, in fact, he himself never 
had a clear understanding. " It seemed," he said, in looking 
back, " like a half-remembered, but pleasant dream." 

His argument before the supreme court of the United 
States in the McCardle case, in the spring of 1868, the cir- 
cumstances with which we are now familiar, made a pro- 
found impression. Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war, 
said to Carpenter before his return to Milwaukee: "We 
need )'ou in congress, where we are in trouble with ques- 
tions similar to this and with others equally important in 
regard to the south. I hope our friends in Wisconsin will 
find it to their pleasure, as it certainly will be to their inter- 
est, to make you Mr. Doolittle's successor in the United 
States senate." 

This was then regarded as little more than a pleasant 
compliment on the part of the grateful secretary. A few 
weeks later, however, Carpenter was surprised to learn from 
Judge Levi Hubbell, of Milwaukee, that Stanton had writ- 
ten several letters to Wisconsin suggesting that a campaign 
to make him Doolittle's successor be at once inaugurated. 
The expediency and propriety of such a move appeared to 
him doubtful. At first any discussion of the subject was 
embarrassing to such an extent as to be noticeable to those 
in the secret, and he avoided all allusion to it. His actions 
showed as plainly as possible that he felt some unworthiness 
or lack of distinguished standing as a candidate for a posi- 



STARTING THE BALL 253 

tion at once so high and honorable. Gradually, however, 
he became less shy in presence of the idea, and after can- 
vassing the advantages and drawbacks of office-holding, 
finally decided that he was willing the campaign should 
begin. 

STARTING THE BALL. 

Having decided to enter the contest, a complete change 
now came over him. He became possessed of that ardent 
desire to win which accompanies all honorable ambition. He 
passed around among his friends of high standing and influ- 
ence, and having thus personally learned who would support, 
who oppose and who remain neutral, on June i8th took the 
train for Janesville for the purpose of laying the matter 
before Alexander M. Thomson, editor of the 'Janesville 
Gazette. Thomson was an original and staunch republican, 
who had been speaker of the previous assembly, and would 
probably be re-elected at the on-coming election. Carpenter 
was particularly desirous that his candidacy should be first 
brought before the public by such a man, and in old Rock 
county, his first Wisconsin home. 

Those who have always maintained that he was no politi- 
cian must acknowledge that the shrewdness of this move 
exceeded that of any of the plans proposed by his most 
adroit and experienced friends. To have his name elevated 
before the people b}'' the Gazette would be an unassailable 
indorsement of the soundness of his republicanism from the 
highest source; and particularly would it contribute mate- 
riall}'^ to the advantage and success of his campaign to have 
Thomson committed to his candidacy. That gentlemen, be- 
ing an aspirant for speaker, would of course do his utmost to 
make certain his own election as well as that of such assem- 
blymen as, being friendly to him, would naturally be more 
or less under his influence. 

He spent an entire day with Thomson, who, though per- 
sonally favorable to the project, thought it could not be ac- 
complished at that time. He pointed out that Carpenter had 



254 1.1FE OF CARPENTER. 

never been very pronounced in any formal adherency to the 
republican party, and the people, disgusted with the recent 
deflection of Senator Doolittle and his espousal of Andrew 
Johnson's " my policy," would regard with suspicion the sin- 
cerity and stability of any comparatively new convert whose 
first important demonstration in the party was that of a can- 
didate for the highest office in the gift of the state. 

Carpenter declared this view did him great injustice; that 
he was not a new convert; that his "first important demon- 
stration in the party " was not that of an office-seeker, as he 
had supported all the war measures, fought for the election 
of Lincoln and all the republican congressmen; made numer- 
ous speeches against Johnson's policy and in support of the 
power of congress over the states lately in rebellion, and 
that, finally, he was not a common office-seeker, the idea of 
becoming a candidate for the senatorship having never entered 
his head until the time it was suggested by Secretary Stanton. 
The secret candidate then returned home without having 
secured a decision, fully resolved to let the matter quietly drop, 
its existence unknown to any save a few intimate friends, if 
he could not go before the people guarantied by the sanction 
and great seal of Old Rock, his first home in the west and the 
very Gibraltar of republicanism in Wisconsin. 

Not more than two or three clays after the interview, 
Ithamer C. Sloan called on Thomson in Carpenter's behalf, 
but he found little to urge. Thomson had fully decided 
to bring out the brilliant attorney and war orator for the 
senatorship. On June 20th, therefore, he published as his en- 
cyclical letter to the republicans of the state, a long review 
of Carpenter's career, showing his distinguished service to 
freedom, the Union, republicanism, reconstruction and Negro 
suffrage; paying a just tribute to his unrivaled abilities as a 
jurist and statesman, and closing thus: 

Next to faithfulness in a public servant, the country needs the benefit of 
the ablest men, the best-trained thinkers — those statesmen whose methods 
of thought and action accord with the progressive ideas which characterize 



BOYISH EMBARRASSMENT. 255 

the age. We need men to represent us there who possess, in a high degree, 
those traits of ciiaracter and of intellect which distinguished Clay, Benton, 
Silas Wright, Douglas and Preston King from some of those who now 
occupy their seats. If we can find a man in our ranks whose adhesion to 
principle, brilliant oratory, and great legal ability has attracted the attention 
and admiration of the leading men of both political parties throughout the 
Union, he is the man who ought to be elected to represent a great and 
rapidly-growing state like Wisconsin in the senate of the United States. 
Suck a man is Matt. H. Carpenter, and we nominate him as the successor of 
James R. Doolittle. 

This article aroused a tumult in political circles. Already 
had public attention been fastened upon Cad vvallader C.Wash- 
burn, Horace Rublee, Edward Salomon and O. H. Waldo. 
They had been formally put forward as candidates, and, it 
was generally supposed, comprised the entire list of aspi- 
rants. It was largely expected, also, that Mr. Rublee, being a 
well-known and leading member of the profession of jour- 
nalism, would have the support of a large share of the repub- 
lican press, though Washburn had been counting on the 
support^of Thomson and the Janesville Gazette. The lines 
of the campaign having been thus early marked, it is easy to 
understand the commotion that followed the formal presenta- 
tion of Carpenter. He and his friends remained inactive for 
a few days, quietly watching the effects of the numerous 
petty storms and whirlwinds that were tormenting the politi- 
cal horizon of the state and vexing the minds of other sena- 
torial candidates. When these had become less violent, it 
was observed that the Evening Wisconsin^ of Milwaukee, 
was the only newspaper in the state that had aligned itself 
with the Janesville Gazette in favor of Carpenter. But the 
campaign had been decided upon, and must be carried for- 
ward. 

BOYISH EMBARRASSMENT. 

Carpenter's reply to the question of how he became a 
candidate for the senatorship has been recorded, together 
with a statement of the origin of the idea. In reply to the 
question often asked and always answered in the same man- 



256 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

ner, as to how he was actually elected, he said: " I really don't 
know; ask Carter." He referred to Walter S. Carter, of 
the law firm of Chamberlain, Carter & Hornblower, of 
New York, who, turning back the leaves of his memory, 
observes : 

Matt and I settled in Milwaukee during the same year, 1S5S. We 
had offices within an apple's throw of each other, we lived in the same 
ward, we knew each other very well. One day I was not less surprised 
than pleased to find a strong editorial in the Janesville Gazette formally 
bringing him out as a candidate for the United States senate. I did not 
wait to read the article through, but ran across and asked him whether it was 
true. With that boyish embarrassment which I otten jioticed in him on 
such occasions, he answered that it was true. I asked him if I could be of 
any service to him. He replied eagerly that I could, as there was yet 
nobody to do anything and nothing had been done. Accordingly I met 
him by appointment, at his house, that very evening, and there the plan of 
the campaign, as far as he knew anything about it, was marked out and 
agreed upon. Our plan was to ignore the politicians entirely — play it over 
their heads — and deal directly with and be yictorious or defeated by the 
people. Matt, was strong with the people and strong with the politicians, 
but on the wrong side with the latter, for he was no politician. We talked 
until late, agreeing firmly to keep aloof from old party hacks. We fixed 
upon a list of dates and places for making public addresses, covering all 
the larger communities in the republican portions of the state. 

Matt, insisted no time should be wasted in talking to democrats, so his 
appointments embraced only republican districts. Finally, when I left him 
that night, I had promised to do as much of the detail work as I could in 
helping to organize a popular campaign, which I did from that hour until 
I "f ^ 8: 20 P. M. of Tuesday, January 19th, when our efforts were crowned by a 
glorious triumph in his noinination by the republican caucus. 

During the evening in which Carpenter and Carter met 
to lay out a programme of work, Mrs. Carpenter heard for 
the first time of her husband's political prospects. After the 
departure of their guest, she mentioned the matter with 
natural pleasure and surprise and asked for further informa- 
tion. Blushing like a maiden at the first discovery of her 
betrothal, he finally made a clean breast of the matter. 



SUPPORTING GRANT. 257 



SUPPORTING GRANT. 



Ulysses S. Grant, of Illinois, had been nominated by the 
republicans at the Chicago convention for President, with 
Schuyler Colfax for Vice-President. Grant was one of the 
two or three who had urged that Carpenter be engaged in 
the McCardle case. On the other hand, Carpenter was a 
great admirer of Grant's quiet tenacity, his cool and unfail- 
ing bravery and his general good sense, and therefore deter- 
mined, as soon as the republican presidential ticket was 
placed in the field, to do all that was possible to insure its 
election. On the 25th of May a great ratification mass-meet- / »<$" 
ing was held in Milwaukee. The regular orators were Gen- 
erals Daniel E. Sickles and Alfred Pleasanton, who came 
direct from the Chicago convention. Carpenter was present, 
a conspicuous figure. At the close of the regular addresses 
the calls for him were so imperative that he responded with 
a speech that was published and re-published throughout the 
Union. After paying his respects to President Johnson, pro- 
nouncing him guilty as charged in the articles of impeach- 
ment, he said: 

The revolution of the south against the most indulgent government on 
earth was one of those upheaving events which changed men's thoughts, 
broke up old associations, threw the mind back on first principles, and com- 
pelled men to reason for themselves in a new condition of things. Previous 
political organizations had been based upon different schemes of adminis- 
tration. But the war raised an issue back of that and touched the right ot 
the government to exist. It was impossible to predict, when the war com- 
menced, what course any man would pursue, merely from a knowledge of 
his former political associations. To know that a man had advocated a 
high tariff or free trade, a paper or a metallic currency, had favored or op- 
posed internal improvements, gave no clue to his conduct upon the new, 
the all-absorbing issue created by the war. It is true that old party ties and 
watch-words did not entirely lose their influence, and many whose patriot- 
ism was cool were influenced, against their better judgment, by party dis- 
cipline of the great and heretofore triumphant democratic organization, to 
cling to their party when the choice had come to be between party and 
country. But however long any man may have hesitated in his choice, or 
17 



258 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

however severe may have been the struggle between liis conscience as a 
citizen and his fealty as a politician, the choice once made, the new path lay 
straight before him ; and if he determined to support the war from honest 
conviction of duty, and not for a commission or contract, then he is sup- 
porting Grant and Colfax to-day, in obedience to the law of consistency 
and from absolute logical necessity. Grant and Colfax are entitled to our 
support, not only from personal considerations, but because they represent 
principles and are pledged to a certain line of conduct and administration 
represented in the pla'Ltorm adopted by the Chicago convention. And there 
is not a plank in that platform that has not become absolutely necessary in 
consequence of the war. 

Take, for instance, the pledge in favor of universal suffrage. It stands 
in the platform as a mere logical consequence of antecedent events. It 
may illustrate my meaning to unfold the successive steps of the great 
argument by which it is established. The government had a right to 
exist; consequently it had a right to suppress a rebellion which menaced its 
existence. But in the progress of the war it became evident that it was 
absolutely necessary as a means of crippling the south to emancipate their 
slaves. This being done, when the war ended, four millions of human 
beings, who in legal contemplation were chattels when the war commenced, 
had become and were freemen. It is one of the first principles of our 
system — indeed, is the very foundation of the whole structure of Ameri- 
canism — that every freeman bound by the laws should have a voice in 
making the laws. The black men of the south are ireemen; they are 
bound by the laws, therefore they are entitled to a voice in making the laws ; 
that is, s/iffrag-e. And no man who admits the first proposition — that the 
government has a right to exist — can deny the conclusion, universal suf- 
frage. Every man who pledged himself to the prosecution of the war, if 
he be an honest man, will feel bound to recognize and approve all the nec- 
essary and logical consequences of the war. So we may vindicate every 
plank of that platform which embodies a principle of future administra- 
tion. Consequently we find all the demi)crats who entered upon the prose- 
cution of the war from convictions, not for contracts, battling to-day for 
the principles enunciated in that platform. Grant himself, and Stanton, 
Holt, Butler, Logan, SicklCs, and a "milky way" of lesser lights, all 
illustrate this truth. The war has given us Grant for a candidate; and 
universal suffrage, an honest discharge of our national obligations, the re- 
construction of the demolished states of the south upon the congressional 
basis, for our platform. And every man who sustained Grant as a captain 
in the camp will support him now as a leader in the campaign of politics, 
which will " trammel up the consequences " of the war, rebuild the south- 
ern governments destroyed by the madness of treason, and restore our 
government to its.first principles — liberty^ laiv and order. 



ROBUST RECRUITS. 259 

This quick and decisive support of Grant was a material 
help to Carpenter in his own canvass. Not many weeks 
elapsed after the appearance of the announcement of his 
candidacy before the popular tide began to set in his favor. 
But it was by no means an unobstructed tide. Obstacles 
were numerous and often formidable. C. C. Washburn 
controlled the La Crosse Republican; the Wisconsin State 
yournal^ the official state paper, was edited (jointly with 
David Atwood) by Horace Rublee, and other papers in the 
state, already committed to the support of other candidates, 
cried that " Carpenter did not yet know how to act in his 
new political clothing." The democratic organs, exasper- 
ated because he did not return to their fold at the end of the 
war, vehemently denounced him as a " turn-coat," a " mod- 
ern Belial," an " Esau who was selling his birthright for a 
mess of pottage." These innuendoes, clothed in the startling 
verbiage malevolent genius can always command, had for a 
time an adverse effect upon his canvass. The shibboleth of 
" longer probation " had many sincere followers, because 
Doolittle, whom Carpenter hoped to succeed, had just aban- 
doned his party in order to follow Andrew Johnson. 

ROBUST RECRUITS. 

After the campaign had arrived at an advanced and heated 
stage, the head and front of the so-called " Madison Re- 
gency," E. W. Keyes, appeared in Carpenter's office in 
Milwaukee, in company with the late Ben. F. Hopkins. 
After the interchange of the usual courtesies of greeting, 
Hopkins inquired: 

" How is it, Mr. Carpenter, that your candidacy is meet- 
ing with such astonishing success and favor without the 
apparent aid or effort of anybody?" 

" Spontaneous uprising of the people, for the purpose of 
rebuking politicians," was the laconic reply. 

" That's all bosh," answered Hopkins, nevertheless appre- 
ciating the hit. " Now tell us all about it." 



260 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Carpenter then, in a few sentences, explained whence first 
arose the idea of his candidacy, and that the extent of the 
campaign work up to that time had been what newspaper 
discussion had naturally followed the formal announcement 
in the Janesville Gazette. 

" If that is true," exclaimed Keyes, one of the most expe- 
rienced political managers in the northwest, "you can be 
elected." 

Thenceforward, Keyes and his friends were elTective work- 
ers for Carpenter. 

The labors of a remarkable senatorial campaign now began 
in earnest. Alexander C. Botkin, editor of the Milwaukee 
Sentinel,, prepared a list of sixty-six republican and independ- 
ent newspapers in the state, only two of which, the Janes- 
ville Gazette and Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin., favored 
Carpenter's election. The gentleman who took this list 
soon knew whether their editors were committed to any of 
the other candidates, and if so, why; whether they had any .. 
pet schemes or whims; whether their support and influence 
would be damaging or beneficial; in fact, in a short time 
had a written record of everything about them that it was 
desirable to know. When this had been accomplished, the 
work of enlisting the support of such as it was deemed 
advisable to have on Carpenter's side began. One after 
another they wheeled into line, until forty-six out of the orig- 
inal list of sixty-six were enthusiastic in their support of the 
popular lawyer and orator. 

As he passed up and down the state addressing public 
gatherings, Carpenter lost no opportunity of becoming per- 
sonally acquainted with as many leading republicans as pos- 
sible, and with the members of their families. The warmth 
with which he was everywhere received was indeed pleasant, 
if not remarkable, and he frequently confessed that the 
senatorship was a small prize compared with the many rare 
friendships he had formed during the campaign. 



THE GOOD PARSONS. 261 



THE GOOD PARSONS. 

Some interesting campaign features are disclosed in the 

following letter: 

New York, Sept. 20, 1883. 
Dear Sir: — When Matt's first senatorial campaign opened I had been 
chairman of the United States Christian Commission in the war of the Re- 
bellion, had made two trips along the army lines and personally knew the 
soldiers from Wisconsin. I had been for. three years secretary of the Wis- 
consin State Sunday School Association and knew all the Sunday school 
men in the state; and besides, and better than all, I was a member of the 
great Methodist denomination. I well recollect the half-amused, half- 
frightened look that took possession of Matt.'s face on the night of our first 
meeting to devise a plan of campaign, when I explained to him that among 
the list of speaking appointments the dates of those for Boscobel and Ra- 
cine corresponded with the dates for holding the Methodist conferences in 
those cities. Although incredulous as to the expediency of such forced in- 
trusions, as he called them, he finally consented to the programme. He 
was still more astonished when the conferences at both places adjourned 
for our meetings, and, mirable dtctu, at Boscobel the good parsons actually 
gave us their church for the evening and were enthusiastic listeners to Mr. 
Carpenter's captivating oratory. In fact, if my recollection serves me right, I 
believe one of the leading elders opened the meeting, which was as large 
as the house could possibly accommodate, with a semi-political prayer, ask- 
ing God's blessing upon Mr. Carpenter's efforts. 

Walter S. Carter. 

When the day of election came the republicans were 
everywhere successful. Wisconsin gave nearly twenty-five 
thousand majority for Grant, and elected eighty-seven out of 
the one hundred and thirty-three members of the legislature. 
A. M. Thomson was re-elected by a round majority, and 
when the legislature convened, January 13, 1869, was again 
chosen speaker. This was Carpenter's first triumph. 

The election of senator was not to take place until the fol- 
lowing week, yet hundreds of lobbyists were already on the 
ground. Carpenter was present, with headquarters in the 
Vilas House. The great value of his fall stumping-tour now 
appeared. He was personally acquainted with two-thirds of 
the republican members, and had been a guest of many of 
them. A strong and growing personal feeling in his favor, 



262 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

therefore, prevailed among a majority of the members, 
though many were bound by previous arrangements and 
complications to vote for other candidates. He therefore 
said to his friends that if the nomination of Washburn, who 
was then his leading rival, could be prevented for two days 
after the first meeting of the caucus, he himself would be 
chosen. 

PRIZE DECLAMATIONS. 

As the canvass progressed Thomson hit upon a decidedly 
novel plan of adding spice and variety to the proceedings. 
He drafted a call petitioning " Otis H. Waldo, Cadwallader 
C. Washburn, Edward Salomon, Horace Rublee and Mat- 
thew H. Carpenter to appear before a mass-meeting of the 
members of the legislature and all others who might desire 
to attend, and give their views upon the issues of the day." 
This scheme met the decided opposition of all but Carpenter. 
Washburn, who made no pretense to oratory, was particu- 
larly displeased with the call, but as a majority of the mem- 
bers of the legislature had signed it, none of the rivals dared 
to decline. 

Monday evening, January i8th, was fixed as the time for 
the " prize rhetorical exercises," and " spelling-school exhi- 
bition," as the wags had it. O. H. Waldo denominated the 
affair " a humbug," suggesting that " there would be as much 
sense in choosing a senator by the length of his nose or the 
size of his foot as by the ridiculous scheme of measuring 
tongues!" Carpenter opened his address: 

For twenty years I have been accustomed to public speaking, and yet I 
feel to-night all the embarrassment of a man attempting to make his first 
speech. I have defended men charged with all sorts of crimes, from 
drunkenness up to murder. This is the first time I ever stood up to defend 
myself 

He then stated at considerable length his political pedigree, 
and closed thus: 

Now let us for a few moments consider the issues bequeathed to us bjr 
the war. The first great topic relates to the reconstruction of state govern. 



PRIZE DECLAMATIONS. 263 

ments in the late rebel states. But as I have discussed this subject so fully 
in the argument in the McCardle case, in the supreme court of the United 
States, and in a speech upon the same subject made at Chicago during the 
late campaign, both of which have been extensively circulated as campaign 
documents, I shall pass that subject without comment. 

The subject of finance will necessarily engross most of the attention of 
the country and of congress for many years. There are a few leading ideas 
that must always be borne in mind. Strict economy; no more subsidies ; 
such appropriations only as are strictly within the provisions, the letter and 
spirit of the constitution; necessary improvement of our harbors and rivers; 
an equal and honest adjustment of the burthens of national taxation; a firm 
resolution to keep the public faith inviolable; and all will be well. 

Now, gentlemen, if, all things considered, you can conscientiously cast 
your votes for me, I shall be delighted. If not, if you concur with a por- 
tion of the press of the state in the opinion that I am not fit to be a repub- 
lican candidate, but am fit to hold a candle for other candidates, so be it;, 
bring on your candidates, and I will stump the state for them every year as 
long as I live. 

Washburn, who was in an unpleasant frame of mind, fol- 
lowed, and began by making some sharp allusions to his com- 
petitor. This at once drove the sympathy of the audience 
beyond his control, compelling him to stem the current in- 
stead of riding upon it, as Carpenter had done. Quick to 
observe his loss, and perhaps a little frustrated by the effects 
of it, he attempted to turn the tide by a sally upon Carpen- 
ter: "My friend Carpenter has said that if you defeat him 
and drive him out, he shall never dare again appear before 
the people, and shall content himself with giving a silent 
vote." 

What conclusion he proposed to draw from this utterance 
can never be known, as it was followed by vociferous cries 
of " He did not say that," " You speak an untruth," and 
similar expressions of disapproval. The commotion became 
so marked, that, altjiough Washburn had uttered but a few 
sentences, he retired after declaring he had no intention of 
misquoting anybody. 

This episode gave the sympathy of the audience still 
further to Carpenter, and rendered it exceedingly difficult 
for Waldo, Rublee and Salomon to do justice to the occa- 



264 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

sion or their abilities. Even Carpenter's opponents ac- 
knowledged that the oratorical contest had resulted in a 
signal triumph for him, and his friends went into the caucus 
on the following night not only hopeful but enthusiastic. 

BEHIND THE SCENES. 

It is the custom in Wisconsin, as it is in most other states, 
for the members of either party in the legislature to hold a 
secret meeting called a " caucus," in which candidates for 
speaker of the assembly, president fro tempore of the senate 
or United States senator are chosen by a majority vote of 
those present. The candidate so chosen is regarded as the 
regular nominee of the party, and receives in the formal 
meeting of the legislature the full party vote. 

The caucus of the republican members to agree upon a 
candidate for United States senator was held in the basement 
of the capitol building at 7 130 P. M., Tuesday, January 19th. 
All other persons except a few messenger boys, to whom the 
proceedings were supposed to be wholly unintelligible, were 
excluded, the sergeants-at-arms of both branches barricad- 
ing, with the majesty of their positions, the entrance against 
all but the elect. Senator Anthony Van Wyck was elected 
chairman, and Senator Ira W. Fisher and Assemblyman 
Thaddeus C. Pound were chosen secretaries. 

After Luther Buxton's motion to proceed to an informal 
ballot for a candidate for United States senator, Charles 
G. Williams, a state senator, in a very brilliant and elab- 
orate speech, presented " Matt. H. Carpenter as the special 
candidate of the overwhelmingly and ever reliable republican 
county of Rock, whose people had known him from his 
youth up." The closing sentences of his speech will be 
quoted : 

One thing, sir, we do remember, and we never wish to forget it, and that 
is, when the clouds lowered over all this land, when treason held high 
carnival, when the strongest hearts quailed, and all was doubt and uncer- 
tainty — above the clamor of party, above the din of war, rang out the 



BEHIND THE SCENES. 



265 



I 



clarion voice of Matt. H. Carpenter, and the sentiments he promulgated 
received the Godspeed of every patriot and every genuine republican from 
Maine to California. 

Remembering these things, against all opposition and every objection, 
Rock county takes the responsibility^ and backs him -with her thirty-four hun- 
dred republican majority. 

Sir, overwrought I may be, inexperienced I know I am, zealous I can but 
be. It seems to me the hour of destiny approaches; that one of those 
grand opportunities offered to a state but once in a century is upon us. 
Shall we seize the opportunity.-* 

We brmg our candidate, upon whom even the most earnest of his op- 
ponents will not denj^ that nature has showered her richest gifts ; that in 
breadth of brain, profundity of statesmanship, and grace and power of 
speech, is every way qualified to adorn the senate and honor the state. 
Will we act upon nature's hint.'' 

I said Massachusetts had named her Webster, Kentucky her Clay, Mis- 
souri her Benton and her Schurz, Illinois her Douglas, her Lincoln, and 
her Grant. Shall Wisconsin name her Carpenter? 

S. C. West, of Milwaukee, seconded the nomination in a 
plain, substantial manner, in behalf of the metropolis of the 
state and of the first congressional district. 

At the conclusion of the nominations, an informal ballot 
was taken, resulting in twenty-nine votes for Carpenter, 
thirty for Washburn, fourteen for Waldo, ten for Rublee, and 
four for Salomon. The result of the initial exhibit of numer- 
ical strength was surprising, particularly to the friends of 
Washburn and Waldo, who never had conceded more than 
nineteen or twenty votes to Carpenter, and had counted on 
a much larger following for themselves. The interest, there- 
fore, at once became intense, and tally-sheets were prepared, 
in order to know the result at the earliest possible moment. 
Five formal ballots were taken in rapid succession amidst 
intense interest: 



M. H. Carpenter 
C. C. Washburn 
O. H. Waldo... 
Horace Rublee. 
E. Salomon 



I 


2 


3 


4 


3^ 


34 


35 


40 


31 


3- 


36 


33 


13 


II 


9 


8 


8 


6 


5 


5 


4 


4 


- 


I 



44 

4 
3 
I 



266 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

The chairman announced that Carpenter had been duly 
nominated, and Senator Barlow moved that the nomination 
be made unanimous, which was carried with hurrahs. The 
news spread quickly through the capiLol and the city. Car- 
penter remained at his headquarters while the other candi- 
dates were in the assembly chamber, where, immediately 
after adjournment, the members of the legislature and a 
crowd of spectators gathered. George C. Hazelton called 
the throng to order, and a committee was appointed to notify 
Carpenter of his nomination and to invite him over to make a 
speech. To this he demurred, saying it would be more proper 
to make a speech of thanks after the two houses had ratified 
his nomination, if they should so far honor him. But " no " 
was not the answer wanted, and he was partly dragged and 
partly carried to the assembly chamber, where his appear- 
ance was the signal for hurrahs, shouts, and every conceiv- 
able manifestation of delight. When this had subsided he 
mounted the speaker's platform and said: 

Gentlemen: — I should be wanting in all the tender emotions of our 
common humanity if I were in a mood to make a speecli to-night. I am 
so delighted to be thus happily delivered from the uneasy blanket upon 
which I have been tossed for so many days, that I hardly know how to ex- 
press to you my thanks for this fortunate delivery. But there is one thing 
to be borne in mind at the close of this contest among political associates 
and friends — no scars are to remain. We are members of one faith, associ- 
ated together in one organization, for high political and governmental ends. 
There must be rivalry, because one inan only can fill one particular place; 
and our party has many members amply qualified to occupy the highest 
positions, and the friends of each will strive to promote their claims; and 
though the successful candidate must remember his friends, he should not 
cherish resentments or harbor malice towards those who have adhered to 
and supported rival candidates. 

If I shall be elected, gentlemen, by the legislature, for the position to 
which I have been nominated, it will be my careful endeavor and constant 
aim, in all places, to represent no city, no county and no locality, but the 
state of Wisconsin. 

It will be my aim, also, so far as I shall have any influence in the dispo- 
sition of the patronage of the general government, in distributing the ap- 
pointments and offices, to consult no clique, no "ring," but give the people 
of each locality the opportunity to select for themselves and be responsible 
for the propriety of such choice. 



AN OVATION. 267 

Gentlemen, accept my sincere thanks for this nomination ; and I should 
but half answer the sense of duty which wells up in my heart, if, in this 
place and upon this occasion, I should forget to make my sincere acknowledg- 
ments to my friends of the "lobby," who have voluntarily rallied to the 
rescue from all parts of Wisconsin ; from Rock, from Racine, from Mil- 
waukee, from Walworth, from Hudson, from Sheboygan, from almost 
every point — ardent, devoted and firm friends. I am proud to say the 
best men in Wisconsin have come here to assist me on this occasion. I 
can not express my thanks to them, for I have no language that would be 
adequate. 

I have no profuse pledges to make. I shall simply say that, if I am 
elected, I will endeavor to do my duty ; no man can do more. 

The friends he thus mentioned were present in the fullness 
of their admiration for Carpenter, desirous of showing their 
regard for him in a material way. The hotels and boarding- 
houses were all crowded; many went to Black Earth and 
McFarland, adjoining villages, to find beds, and scores act- 
ually slept on the stone floors of the halls and rotunda of the 
capitol. This lobby was certainly cosmopolitan. Several 
religious denominations were represented, one well-known 
divine who saw Carpenter at Boscobel being present, urging 
his election. Lawyers and judges gathered in great num- 
ber, flanked by farmers, journalists, manufacturers and pro- 
fessional men of every class. Nothing like it had ever 
before been seen in Wisconsin. 

AN OVATION. 

At noon of the following day Carpenter boarded the cars 
for home, where he arrived shortly before dusk. At every 
station on the road the people crowded to the car to greet and 
congratulate him. On arriving at Milwaukee he was as- 
tonished to find the depot and platform surrounded with 
people who had determined to tender an informal recep- 
tion. Bach's celebrated military band was present, and as the 
train drew up to the platform played " Hail to the Chief." 
Good feeling and enthusiasm were overflowing, and as he 
descended from the car he was literally submerged with 
greetings and congratulations. Stemming this pleasant tide as 



268 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

best he could, he proceeded to a carriage in waiting to con- 
vey him home. The citizens fell into line under Geo. B. 
Goodwin, and, preceded by the band, escorted Carpenter to 
his residence, about two miles distant. The escorting crowd 
gathered strength as it proceeded, and the wayside greet- 
ings and huzzahs were continuous. 

On arriving at his residence the pride and good feeling of 
his friends and neighbors broke forth again in prolonged and 
vociferous cheering, while hats and handkerchiefs filled the 
air. When the storm of congratulations had subsided, Mr. 
Goodwin, in a few eloquent words, welcomed the victor 
home. Carpenter responded briefly, thanking those assem- 
bled for the demonstration of their friendship, expressing his 
determination to represent the principles of the great radical 
party of Wisconsin in the United States senate to the best of 
his ability. 

Three cheers were then given, the band played a patriotic 
air and the crowd dispersed, leaving Carpenter at liberty to 
enter his house and receive the greetings of his family. His 
daughter Lilian, then ten years of age, had heard the news 
of her father's elevation, and asked her mother how he 
would look and whether she would know him on his return. 
To her childish delight, no less than astonishment, she 
recognized her father — there actually had been no change; 
he was the same jovial, pleasant papa who had always shared 
her pleasures, joined in her amusements and soothed her lit- 
tle sorrows. 

CONFIRMED. 

On January 27th the two houses met in joint session, and 
on the first ballot, without a dissenting vote among the repub- 
lican members, ratified the work of the caucus, and at noon 
of that day Wyman Spooner, lieutenant-governor and presi- 
dent of the senate, declared " Matthew Hale Carpenter elected 
to the United States senate for the term of six years ending 
March 3, 1875." 

Never had an election of this kind given such apparent 



CONFIRMED. 2^ 

general satisfaction in the state, or so universally touched 
the popular chord. Telegrams, letters and newspapers con- 
taining congratulatory expressions came pouring in from all 
portions of Wisconsin and the northwest, as well as from 
Washington, Vermont, New York, Chicago and other cities 
and states. It was a proud day for Wisconsin, a triumphant 
day for Carpenter. 



270 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

YET NO REST. 

His elevation to the senate did not free Carpenter from 
missionary labors in politics. Not a campaign passed in 
which he was not in demand on the stump. In 1869 he ad- 
dressed numerous mass-meetings, advocating the re-election 
of Lucius Fairchild, the republican candidate for governor 
of Wisconsin, and in 1870 canvassed the state in behalf of 
the republican nominees for congress, particularly urging, but 
without success, the election of Halbert E. Paine over Alex- 
ander Mitchell. In 1871 Ex-Senator James R. Doolittle was 
the democratic and C. C. Washburn the republican candidate 
for governor. Carpenter entered upon the canvass early and 
opposed Doolittle with earnest vigor, making more certain 
his defeat. 

In 1872 he spoke in the various congressional districts, con- 
tributing materially to the election of six out of the eight 
republican nominees, and delivered also several political ad- 
dresses in Illinois and adjoining states, picturing the anoma- 
lous position of Horace Greele}'^, the democratic candidate for 
the presidency. Everywhere he was greeted by large audi- 
ences. At Warren, III, on September 28th, he was welcomed 
with music and cannons, and eight thousand people gathered 
through a drenching rain to hear him. 
5- The presidential campaign of that year was one of vital 
■^ importance. Greeley was on the stump in his own behalf, jus- 
^ tifying secession. All the people lately in rebellion were back 
in the Union exercising their own right of suffrage and pre- 
venting, as much as possible, its exercise by the Negroes. 
Charles Sumner and N. P. Banks, of Massachusetts; Gen. 
Farnsworth, of Illinois; Carl Schurz, of Missouri, and scores 
of other influential republicans who had personal grievances 
against Grant, were supporting Greeley, and there was, for the 



YET NO REST. 2*J1 

first time since the war, a free rally, north and south, of the 
democracy for the purpose of undoing the results of the Re- 
bellion. Against the methods and aims of such a campaign, 
Carpenter was perhaps the most conspicuous political knight 
in the field. His matchless defense of Grant on the floor of the 
senate against the malignant assaults of Sumner and Schurz 
was circulating in every community, one hundred thousand 
copies of it for campaign use having been printed on the first 
order of the national republican committee. His name was 
almost as familiar as that of Grant, and his voice roused 
whole cities and communities wherever he went. An imper- 
fect excerpt from one of his speeches in Illinois will show his 
position : 

But another reason why Mr. Greeley should not be elected is that Mr. 
Greeley is a secessionist. If this charge can be substantiated, no honest 
Union man — democrat or republican — can vote for him. I shall substan- 
tiate it from his own pen and his own lips. 

In the first place, what do we mean by a secessionist.' Simply this: A 
man who maintains that the people of a state have a right to withdraw 
from the Union for any cause which ^/tey may dcfermi/ie justifies their doing 
so. No southern man, not even Mr. Calhoun or Jeft". Davis, ever claimed 
that a few conspirators in a state had the right to take a state out of the 
Union against the will of its people. But the doctrine of secession is, that 
whenever the people of a state desire to leave the Union they have a moral 
right to do so. Now, I charge that Mr. Greeley was an original secession- 
ist, and I charge that he is a secessionist to-day; and I will prove this from 
his own writings and speaking. 

In i860 and 1861, this question, the right of secession, was the great 
question which engrossed the thoughts of our people. Eleven states were 
threatening to maintain this right by an appeal to the sword ; and it became 
almost the only topic of conversation and discussion from one end of the 
Union to the other. It soon became evident that the Union must be dis- 
solved or maintained at the expense of war. Whether the government 
could successfully wage a war depended upon the question whether the 
popular sentiment would sustain the government or not. The excitement 
of mere political and partisan discussion, the angry style of the stump, the 
hurrah of caucuses, had given place to that calmer and deeper reflection of 
a great people who feel that they are considering a question which, decided 
one way, must lead to bloodshed and war. While the question was merely 
political or partisan, men flippantly disposed of the arguments urged by 
party opponents. But when the political campaign closed with Lincoln's 
election, and the question still remained to be settled, not by speeches, but 



272 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

by a struggle which must shake the continent; settled not at the ballot- 
box, but on the battle-field ; determined not by devotion to party, but by 
patriotism which could endure the smell of blood and survive the shock 
of armies, then the noisy politicians moderated their frenzy, and the better 
portion of our people, those who are silent amid the din of mere politics — 
the sober, solid men of the country — came to the front to consider whether 
secession should be permitted or war waged to prevent it. 

While this solemn and painful reflection of a great people held judgment 
in suspense, where was Mr. Greeley? He was at the head of the most 
influential journal in the United States. The whole people were his daily 
audience. It was of prime importance that his bugle should give no un- 
certain sound. And it must be confessed, though to his shame, that it did 
not; it rang out loud and clear in favor of the right of secession; and had 
his advice been followed, the Union would have been dissolved without the 
firing of a gun to preserve it Mr. Greeley, in those days, maintained the 
right of secession in plain words, supported by what he called reasons and 
arguments. He said: " If it (the Declaration of Independence) justifies 
the secession from the British empire of the three million of colonists in 
1776, we do not see why it would not justify the secession of five million 
southerners from the Federal Union in 1S61." 

But the people rejected the teachings of Mr. Greeley, and resolved that 
the Union should be preserved, and that war should be waged to put down 
rebellion and bury the heresy of secession. On that appeal in the highest 
forum, that appeal to God to uphold the right, we succeeded, and the peo- 
ple adopted the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the con- 
stitution. We had a right to hope that the war had solved the question, and 
that the amendments to the constitution had gathered up and secured the 
fruits of our victory. But in all this we were mistaken. The present cam- 
paign opens the question again. Mr. Greeley made a speech at Pittsburg 
on the 19th of this month. I shall refer to the report of that speech in 
Mr. Greeley's own organ, and shall read from its text and type. I read 
from the New York Tribune of the 20th of the present month what Mr. 
Greeley said at Pittsburg on the 19th, the day before. Speaking of his 
position in i860 and 1861, he says: 

" I denied that the great majority of the southern people were against 
the Union. I demanded that there should be open, free discussion ; that 
southern people might have an honest, unterrificd, unconstrained vote, and, 
if they approved, if the people of the south said they wanted disunion, I 
would consent to it. And now, to-day, if the nation were to be imperiled, 
and there were just two modes of saving it, to trust the chances of civil 
war or the chances of a free vote of the southern people, I would very 
greatly prefer to take the latter chance rather than the former." 

Thus Greeley was avowedly for secession in i860 and 1861, and indorses 
to-day his old secession utterances. It is folly for any one to deny this or 
attempt to explain it away. It is equal folly to say that secession is dead 



YET NO REST. 273 

when we find a presidential candidate defending it upon the stump. It may 
be said, Mr. Greeley says, that the southern people will never try secession, 
because it is not for their interest to do so. But it never was for their in- 
terest, and yet they did try it, and made war on a vast scale for four years^ 
to accomplish it. It may be said that the amendments to the constitution 
have swept slavery away, and therefore there is no longer any motive for 
secession. It is true the amendments, while they continue, prevent slavery 
and establish equality of privileges and immunities among all citizens. 
But can any man say that if the republican party were to be overthrown, 
the amendments would survive.-* Judge Black, one of the ablest lawyers 
in the United States, formerly attorney -general, and secretary of state under 
Buchanan, supports Mr. Greeley for President, and in his published letter 
to Mr. Welch of the Baltimore Gazette, August 6, 1S72, he assigns his 
reasons for doing so, as follows : 

"The fourteenth and fifteenth amendments were frauds upon the spirit 
and letter ot the instrument, inasmuch as they eftected the worst outrage 
which it was made to prevent. They were carried against the known will 
of nearly every state in the Union, by shameless deception in the north and 
by brutal violence in the south. Mr. Greeley's election will not do all that 
we could wish to free us from the evils. It will not even be a popular con- 
demnation of the base means by which they were inflicted upon us, but it 
ivill begin the process of their gradual extinction." 

Who can say that Judge Black reasons wildly upon this subject.' When 
his candidate for the presidency openly avows and justifies the right of 
secession, and that, too, within ten years after the war, is it difficult to 
believe that within ten years more the democratic party may be attempting 
to abolish the amendments to the constitution, which were adopted because 
secession was overthrown.' 

Carpenter then turned his attention to Greeley's allies, 
particularly Charles Sumner: 

We are told that Mr. Sumner supports Greeley. He does. And I desire 
to show you with what reason and consistency he does so. He has advised 
the colored citizens to vote for Greeley. In a serenade speech made by him 
in Washington, a few days after giving that letter of advice, Mr. Sumner 
said: 

" It is my duty to remind you that the work is not yet accomplished. This 
will be only by the enactment of a civil rights bill which shall relieve the 
citizen, whoever he may be, from any exclusion or discrimination on ac- 
count of his color." 

And again, he says: 

" How constantly have I urged, in public speeches and in all my inter- 
course with you, that our colored fellow-citizens must insist upon their 
18 



274 ^'^^^ O^ CARPENTER. 

rights always, by petition, by speech and by vote. Above all, never vote for 
«ny man who is not true to you; make allegiance to you the measure of 
support.'' 

At the last session of congress Mr. Sumner introduced this " civil rights 
bill," and urged it upon the attention of the senate in season and out of 
season, but it did not receive a single democratic vote. Finally, after it had 
been shorn of its most obnoxious provisions, put in a milder and in a con- 
stitutional form, so as to avoid all reasonable objection to it, it passed the 
senate, and the yeas and na3's were as follows : 

I'eas — Ames, Anthony, Caldwell, Cameron, Carpenter, Chandler, Clay- 
ton, Cole, Conkling, Corbitt, Cragin, Ferry of Michigan, Flanagan, Freling- 
huysen, Hamlin, Logan, Morrill of Vermont, Nye, Osborn, Patterson, 
Pool, Robertson, Sawyer, Scott, Sprague, Wilson and Wright — 2S. 

JVciys— Bayard, Blair, Casserly, Cooper, Davis of West Virginia, Ham- 
ilton of Maryland, Johnson, Kelly, Norwood, Ransom, Saulsbury, Steven- 
son, Thurman and Vickers — 14. 

It will thus be seen thai every senator who voted for the bill is a sup- 
porter of General Grant to-day, and every senator who voted against the 
bill is to-day opposed to Grant. Several of the Greeley senators, especially 
Senator Thurman, of Ohio, one of the ablest men who support Mr. 
Greeley to-day, made a long speech to show that it was unconstitutional. 

Now, Mr. Sumner, in effect, says to the colored citizens, you must have 
the civil rights bill; to get this you must vote into power all the men op- 
posed to the bill, and vote out of power all the men who support the bill; 
because a change of administration not only gives a new President, but 
includes givmg the control of the government to Mr. Greeley's friends. 

The only ground upon which any friend of Mr. Sumner can vindicate his 
honesty is that which I believe to be true; that he is a monomaniac touch- 
ing Grant's election; that he is "mad" with disappointment, hate, and a 
thirst for revenge, and that upon any question which may affect the chances 
of Grant's election, Mr. Sumner is wholly unsound in mind. And I feel 
grateful to his physician for sending him over the ocean, and I pray God 
Uiat its cool breezes may allay the "fever of his brain," and that he may 
return in mental health to the discharge of his duties in the senate. There 
is much in the life of Sumner to be admired, and it is a melancholy specta- 
cle to see so bright a sun go down in darkness, 

" No good omens cheering." 

During this campaign Carpenter went to Rochester, Minn., 
to defend Dr. E. C. Cross against a suit for malpractice. 
After an exciting trial he secured a verdict for his client, 
and was at once called on for a campaign speech. He ac- 
ceded to the request and was met by a large audience. His 



YET NO REST. 275 

speech was received with such enthusiasm that a demand that 
he remain in the state on the stump was made, but could not be 
complied with. The local papers pronounced the address 
the most eloquent, convincing and entertaining that had ever 
been heard in Minnesota. 

No man emerged from the bitter and exciting campaign 
of 1872 with more honors than Carpenter. In 1873 he took 
no part in the gubernatorial campaign of Wisconsin^ — • 
grangerism was rampant, Washburn was " snowed under," 
and the " reform democracy " elected Wm. R. Taylor to the 
governorship by fifteen thousand three hundred and seventy- 
five majority. 

1 The reasons for this inactivity are explained by the letter on page 309. 



276 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

SHOCKING POLITICAL ADULTERY. 

Carpenter's second campaign for the senatorship was, per- 
haps, more worthy of remark than the first. In its exam- 
ination we come upon the first political simony in the history 
of the republican party in Wisconsin. He took but little 
part in the preliminary skirmish, but had numerous warm 
supporters among the newspapers and leading men of the 
state and among the masses. He likewise was opposed by 
a few able and bitter enemies. A. M. Thomson, who was 
first to bring him before the public in 1868, had become 
a relentless foe, and gave the key-note to the opposition in 
articles of extreme attack under the startling title of " Six 
Years of Sin." Wisconsin, the year before, had elected a 
democratic governor and legislature by a heavy majority. 
The republicans were sore and disheartened, while their op- 
ponents were enthusiastic and aggressive. Carpenter was 
less anxious for a re-election than he had been, and it was 
for some time an open question whether he would be a candi- 
date again. The earlier status of affairs is well described 
in this letter , 

Washingtox, D. C, March 24, 1S74. 
My Dear Payne: — Yours of the iSth received, lor which accept my 
thanks. Whether I shall or shall not be a candidate for re-election depends 
entirely upon the wishes of the republican part}'. I am perfectly willing to go 
in and make a canvass of the state as a candidate for the senate, if my friends 
desire me to do so. I am certainly not coward enough to desert the party in 
stress of weather, nor selfish enough to shelter myself from the storm, leav- 
ing my friends exposed. If, on the other hand, the men who have a right 
to be consulted are of the opinion that I have become unpopular in conse- 
quence of back-pay or anything else, it is my duty to stand aside and not 
he a drag upon the party. So the whole matter is with you and my other 
friends of determining what course shall be pursued. Looking simply to 
my pecuniary interests, I should not be a candidate. It is impossible for me 
to save a cent, and I have to work like a slave night and day practicing 



SHOCKING POLITICAL ADULTERY. 277 

law here in Washington to get the means of eking out my salary so as to 
meet my bills. This compels me to work very hard, for which I get no 
reward except kicking and cuffing from Maine to California; so that per- 
sonally I am not dying to be re-elected. But, as I said before, the matter 
rests entirely with our friends. If they desire me to run, I shall ; if not, I 
shall not. Washburn was here the other day and I had a long and pleasant 
conversation with him. He assured me that all I had seen in the papers or 
heard in conversation in regard to his being a candidate for the senate was 
without his authority and against his wishes. I can not believe he is such 
a hypocrite as to talk in that way to me and still be announcing himself at 
home as a candidate. I have not the slightest fear of Mr. Washburn ; so, 
if my friends want me to run, I shall run. Again accept my thanks for 
your letter, and believe me. Yours truly, 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 
To Henry C. Payne, Milwaukee, Wis. 

Carpenter now sent letters to a large number of the lead- 
ing republicans, asking whether, the party would be better 
served by his withdrawal or by his candidacy. All but two 
answered that he must be a candidate. He therefore de- 
cided the canvass should be made. His entire personal 
efforts were directed toward overcoming the democratic 
victory of the previous year and securing a republican legis- 
lature. With this end in view he visited all the close and 
doubtful districts, addressing about forty regular mass-meet- 
ings, besides speaking several times with others. During the 
last two weeks of the campaign he delivered two speeches 
daily. At Black River Falls his presence called together 
the largest crowd ever seen at a political meeting in that 
county. At Mauston the largest church edifice was opened 
to him, and it was filled, the local paper recorded, " inside and 
outside." At the close of the address, when three cheers were 
proposed for " Matt. Carpenter," ladies climbed on the seats 
in the furor of excitement and waved their handkerchiefs 
and shouted as though they were voters. At Beloit, his old 
home, all the inhabitants turned out to do him honor. As at 
Mauston, the building was filled " inside and outside." 



278 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

THE FLOOD-GATES OPENED. 

While he was thus rousing the masses and leading them 
to vote the republican ticket, his enemies — perhaps it would 
be better to say rivals — in his own party were busy with 
floods of falsehood and detraction. He was reviled for hav- 
ing voted for the "back-pay steal;" but, having defended 
his action in that regard in the Janes ville speech of 1873* 
and on the floor of the senate, and having voted for the re- 
peal of the law, this indictment had little or no effect. He 
was charged with actually receiving pay for his legal services; 
denounced as a tyrant by the newspapers for having voted 
for the "Poland gag-law," as it was falsely termed; assailed 
by aggregated capital as a communist for having espoused 
the cause of the people against the corporations in defending 
the validity of the Potter railroad law; slandered because he 
opposed the claims of Governor Kellogg in the Louisiana 
muddle on the floor of the senate, but advocated certain legal 
branches of them for a fee, as an attorney before the supreme 
court. 

It is generally unwise to attempt to refute slanders, but as 
a refutation of some of the falsehoods circulated against 
Carpenter will contain historical facts, it may be given for 
that reason and to show how close partisan newspapers 
come to total depravity: 

Milwaukee, Sept. 30, 1874 
To the Editor of the Chicago Tribune: 
Your paper of September 29th contained the following : 
"Washington, D. C, Sept. 28. — The connection of Senator Carpenter 
and Benjamin F. Butler with Louisiana affairs, of w hich recent New Orleans 
dispatches afford an inkling, is very freely discussed here. They both are 
charged with playing a double game. Certain Kellogg office-holders here, 
high in the confidence of that timid gentleman, are quite bold in declaring 
that Carpenter bled Kellogg. He demanded $5,000 for delivering an argu- 
ment of twenty or twenty-five minutes in the matter of the writ of prohi- 
bition. Three thousand dollars were paid him prior to the i6th of January, 

' Referred to in extenso on page ^65. 



THE FLOOD-GATES OPENED. 279 

1873. The Kellogg folks thought they had paid him enough, as Caleb Gush- 
ing, a better lawyer, had charged for similar services only $2,000. On the 
day mentioned, January 16, 1873, the Louisiana matter was under discus- 
sion in the senate, and, in replying to remarks of Judge Thiirman, Mr. 
Carpenter defended Judge Durell, and commended his course. Since that 
time, as is well known, he has denounced Durell. At the time he intro- 
duced his bill providing for a new election in Louisiana, Mr. Howe, his col- 
league, presented an amendment that, pending the new election, the Kellogg 
government should be recognized. This was opposed by Thui man and 
others, on the ground that it would be a congressional recognition of an 
usurpation. The ainendment was successful by a majority of one, and it 
is noticeable that Carpenter voted in its favor, thereby carrying it. This is 
pointed at as showing how he veered from one side to tlie other, in order to 
make all edges cut. Up to the time that Carpenter made his famous 
speech in New Orleans — which was in May, 1873 — '^^ ^'^^ on'v received 
$3,000 from Kellogg, while he was demanding $5,000. During his stay in 
New Orleans, however, he received $1,000 more, and last December he 
was paid an additional $500, making in all $4,500." •" 

I was previously aware that much falsehood could be crowded into 
a short paragraph, but this surpasses all I have ever seen in that respect 
Let me point out a few ol its misrepresentations. Your correspondent 
says: 

(i) " He demanded $5,000 for delivering an argument of twenty or 
twenty-five minutes, in the matter of the writ of prohibition." 

This is untrue. I never made any such demand. 

(2) "Three thousand dollars were paid him prior to January i6, 1S73." 
This is untrue. 

(3) " On the day mentioned, January 16, 1873, the Louisiana matter was 
under discussion in the senate, and, in replying to remarks of Judge Thur- 
man, Mr. Carpenter defended Judge Durell and commended his course." 

This is untrue, as you mi^ht have seen by examining the Congressional 
Globe before publishing this falsehood. That debate was on the introduc- 
tion of Morton's resolution directing an inquiry, and before the facts of the 
case were known; and the debate turned entirely on points of law touching 
the power of employing the troops as a fosse coniitatus, and the jurisdiction 
of federal courts under the reconstruction acts of congress. I neither de- 
fended Judge Durell nor commended his course. 

(4) "At the time he introduced his bill providing for a new e!ection in 
Louisiana, Mr. Howe, his colleague, presented an amendment that, pending- 
the new election, the Kellogg government should be recognized. This was 
opposed by Thurman and others on the ground that it would be a congres- 
sional recognition of an usurpation. The amendment was successful by a 
majority of one, and it is noticeable that Carpenter voted in its favor, 
thereby carrying it." 



28o LIFE OV CARPENTER. 

Who or what should be the government for the few days during which 
an election should be held was a matter of small practical moment. I 
thought the more logical way was to leave the old Warmoth government; 
but Senators Howe, Hamlin, Sherman and others would not vote for the 
bill without the amendment, but would support the bill with the amend- 
ment. Regarding the amendment as of no practical consequence, I con- 
sented to it and voted for it, hoping thus to pass the bill and secure an 
election, which was the practical end in view. 

Having disposed of these specific misrepresentations, let me state the 
fact: 

In December, 1872, the Hon. Caleb Gushing called on me and retained 
me to assist him for Kellogg, to argue the question of the power of the 
supreme court of the United States to issue a writ of prohibition to a cir- 
cuit court of the United States in an equity case, prior to a final decree in 
the circuit court. 

I examined the question fully and devoted considerable time to prepara- 
tion for the argument, and afterwards Mr. Cushmg and myself argued the 
case, and it is reported in 17 Wallace Reports, 64. 

As Mr. Gushing had retained me and knew what I had done, I consulted 
with him as to what my charge should be. He named $3,000, and said he 
would send my bill with his own, and, when he received the money, would 
pay me. I suppose he did send my bill, because the first money I received 
was part ot a remittance from Kellogg to Mr. Gushing, which Mr. Gushing 
forwarded to me. The balance of my bill was paid at different times — the 
last $500 in December last. All I charged was $3,000, and that was all 
the money I ever received from Mr. Kellogg, and that, I understand, was 
appropriated by the legislature. I wrote several letters to Kellogg asking 
for money, and he gave various reasons for the delay, but never objected 
to the amount charged. 

The Milwaukee A'ews of the 30tii ult. has the following: 

" New Orle.\ns, Sept. 29. — The following is a copy of Senator Carpen- 
ter's letter to Governor Kellogg, taken by the New York Tribune cor- 
respondent from the original. A great deal of diflicuity was found in 
obtaining it, owing to the unwillingness of some of the conservative leaders 
to use it against Carpenter: 

•"Dear Kellogg: I am desperately short. Can't you send me $1,000.' 
If so, it would be a God-send. Yours truly, 

"'1st Aug., 1873. Matt. H. G.\rpenter."* 

In reply to this letter, if my recollection serves me, Mr. Kellogg sent mc 
$500, and promised the balance, $5(», in a short time, and did finally 
pay it in December last. All my letters stolen from Keliogg I give full 
permission to have published. My friends in New Orleans need not have 
the slightest fear that their publication will harm me. 

The question I was retained to argue had nothing to do with the merits 



THE FLOOD-GATES OPENED. 28 1 

of the Louisiana case, and it might as well have arisen in a sviit to fore- 
close a mortgage as in the Kellogg suit. 

My services had been performed, the case decided, my bill rendered, and 
my connection with the case entirely ended, before any proceedings were 
either taken, or expected to be taken, in congress. Senator Morton after- 
wards, on the i6th of January, 1S73, introduced a resolution directing the 
committee to inquire into the condition of affairs in Louisiana. I was on 
that committee, and Mr. Morton was its chairman. A majority of the com- 
mittee came to the conclusion that Kellogg had not been elected, and was 
a usurper, and reported a bill for a new election. I drew the report made 
by the majority against Kellogg, and Mr. Morton made a minority report, 
holding that Kellogg was legally the governor of the state. This was 
February 20, 1S73. The bill for a new election was debated in the senate, 
and I made two speeches in favor of its passage, and the bill was defeated by 
only one or two majority. 

At the late session, on the 6th day of February, 1874, I introduced 
another bill for a new election in Louisiana, and made two speeches in 
favor of its passage — one on the 29th and 30th of January, 1S74, and the 
other on the 4th of March, 1874 — both of which may be found in full in 
the Congressional Record. 

No one who will examine my record on the Louisiana matter can be 
made to believe that I was bribed by Mr. Kellogg; as everything I have 
said and done in the premises, in the senate or before the people, has pro- 
ceeded upon the ground, and been intended to prove, that Mr. Kellogg was 
not the legal governor of the state, and had no right whatever to that 
office. And the attempt to injure me in this particular is only a part of 
the general conspiracy to " get even " with me, without regard to truth or 
justice. Matt. H. Carpenter. 

A letter from Samuel F. Miller, associate justice of the 
United States supreme court, may be quoted, simply to illus- 
trate the noble defenders had by Carpenter against his per- 
sistent defamers: 

Washington, Oct. 9, 1874. 

My Dear Carpenter : — I think you are the best slandered man in the 
United States, if a close observation of current newspaper gossip is any evi- 
dence of the attention you receive in that way. 

On my way home from St. Louis, I found the papers filled with the 
story of your being bribed in the Kellogg case. 

If there is any man in the United States who has done more than any 
other to influence public sentiment against Governor Kellogg, it has been 
you, in your report and speeches in the United States senate. How absurd, 
then, to charge that, because you received a fee from him as a lawyer, to 



202 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

appear for him in the supreme court and argue against the jurisdiction of 
which Warmoth sought the exercise against Kellogg, you are therefore 
bribed, and are a corrupt senator. 

The case was a very important one, and was so regarded by the court; 
and the service which you rendered the court in arriving at a sound con- 
clusion was very useful to us. 

The sum of $3,000 was by no means an unusual or undeserved fee for 
such services in such a case. 

It is long since I have sought to mingle in the strife of politics. It is a 
thing for which I have a great distaste. 

But I should esteem it both a personal and public misfortune if the state 
of Wisconsin should fail to recognize the value of your services, and to 
retain you as its senator, until you have done something worse than receive 
a reasonable fee for valuable services in the supreme court of the United 
States. * * * I am your friend, 

(Signed) Sam. F. Miller. 

THE POLAND "GAG-LAW." 

As to the so-called " Poland gag-law," Carpenter did vote 
for it.' As a part of the slanderous ooze he was compelled 
to stem, this law may be examined. In 1870, the police 
court of the District of Columbia was established. It was 
given exclusive jurisdiction of certain criminal matters. That 
is, no other court in the district could try the class of cases 
named in the act. As this court was constituted without a 
jury, the supreme court lield that it had no constitutional 
jurisdiction, as the sixth amendment guaranties to the ac- 
cused a trial by jury. Therefore, certain crimes committed 
in the District of Columbia could not be tried at all. To 
cure this demoralizing state of affairs, the Poland law was 
enacted, in June, 1874. ^^ simply transferred jurisdiction of 
the cases which could not before be tried, to the criminal 
court, which had a jury. 

The common people, not knowing the defect it was in- 
tended to cure, not understanding that it was a necessity to 
prevent a saturnalia of crime in Washington, were made to be- 
lieve that Carpenter had " devised a gag-law by which he 

1 " An act conferring jurisdiction upon the crimnal court of the Distiict 
of Columbia, and for that purpose." 



WASHBURN AND HOWE. 283 

could prevent the exposure by an untrammeled press of his 
wicked practices." The argument by which such a belief was 
established was to the effect that Carpenter could sit in his 
office at Washington and bring to that city, upon a trumped- 
up charge of libel, every newspaper publisher in the United 
States — a power that muzzled the press. As we now see, 
he could do nothing of the kind. Baser depravity in politi- 
cal misrepresentation was never known.' 

WASHBURN AND HOWE 

Notwithstanding the declaration of C. C. Washburn to 
Carpenter (mentioned in the letter to Henry C. Payne) that 
he should not be a candidate, he, nevertheless, through his 
newspapers and friends, was busy securing support. This led 
to the writing of many letters to Senator T. O. Howe, Carpen- 
ter's colleague, asking which of the two should be chosen. 
Mr. Howe answered these letters in favor of Carpenter. 
In one to John D. Markham, of Manitowoc, under date of 
November 24, 1874, ^^ gave his reasons at length, which 
were published. After a generous tribute to Carpenter's 
ability, he spoke of the two men together: 

In fact, one seems to be on trial, while the other is not. To elect Wash- 
burn is to say that Carpenter is guilty. To elect Carpenter does not say 
that Washburn is guilty, but only that Carpenter is not guilty. But is 
Carpenter guilty.? Guilty of what.? Not of that vague, nebulous, flaccu- 
lent, turgid fog of reproach, under which some opposition newspapers have 
tried to bury him for a few years past. He is already acquitted of that. 
He is acquitted of that by the senate, which made him its presiding officer. 
He is acquitted of that by the crowds of our fellow-citizens who have 

1 In January, 1875, the senate committee, consisting of Geo. F. Edmunds, 
Roscoe Conkling, Fred. T. Frelinghuysen, Geo. W. Wright, Allen G. Thur- 
man and J. W. Stevenson, in reporting the scope of the Poland law, said : 
" No person can be brought mto the District of Columbia under it, either 
for libel or any other crime. The committee are of opinion that both sec- 
tions of the act are necessary and proper, and in perfect accordance with 
the principles of justice and of civilized jurisprudence. Without provisions 
of this character the District of Columbia would be an asylum for offenders 
committing crimes against the laws of the United States and escaping 
hither." 



284 LIFE OF CARPENTER, 

gathered to hear him speak in the name of republicanism during the past 
autumn. He is acquitted of that by every decent man or woman who ad- 
mits him to the parlor or who bows to him on the street. He must be 
acquitted of that by every man who is not willing to expose his own char- 
acter to the remorseless corrosion of that subtle, but spumy slander against 
which the most exalted character is helpless. 

Of what was daintily termed the " back-pay steal," Mr. 
Howe said: 

If the people never mean to forgive a mistake in a public servant, then 
they can not consent to Mr. Carpenter's re-election. Nor can they consent 
to the election of Gov. Washburn. He made the same mistake, as is well 
known, in 1856. 

Public justice has sometimes been subjected to the reproach of imposing 
penalties for an offense committed by one and excusing the same offense 
committed by anotlier. But public justice was never so blind as, having 
two men at its bar at the same time and equally delinquent, to crucify one 
and crown the other. 

But while this vote is remembered against Mr. Carpenter, some things 
should be remembered to his praise. When he was elected to the senate 
six years ago, many thought the party assumed a grave risk, on the score 
of his fidelity. But for six years he has been faithful even where others, 
more trusted, have been faithless. He has kept all the instructions the 
party has given him. When he has errvd, he has erred for want of instruc- 
tion. Moreover, durmg his first term he has achieved the first honor of the 
senate, and he has done as much to distinguish Wisconsin and to distinguish 
the west as any one whom the west ever sent to Washmgton. And while I do 
not mean to disparage the efforts of others, I think no one man has done so 
much as he in the late canvass to rescue the republican party in Wisconsin 
from the defeat which surprised it one year ago. We ought to be just if we 
can not be generous. 

THE COMBAT DEEPENS 

Having rendered effective service in securing the election 
of a republican legislature — eighty-one republicans to fifty- 
two democrats — Carpenter returned to Washington, where 
congress was in session. There he remained until sent for 
by his friends after the legislature had convened, which it did 
January 13, 1875. Washburn and a stud of " dark horses " 
were present, all working, as thc}-^ had been during the 
autumn, against Carpenter. Washburn, however, was the 



THE COMBAT DEEPENS. 285 

only formidable competitor. That he was in the field at all 
occasioned some comment among Carpenter's friends. In 
187 1, when he desired to be elected governor, he wrote a 
letter ^ to Jeremiah M. Rusk, of Vernon county, upon which 
Carpenter and Howe and their friends helped him to the 
coveted nomination and election, expecting in return Wash- 
burn's good offices in their behalf if they should be candi- 
dates for re-election to the United States senate. Later 
than this Washburn personally assured Carpenter that he 
should not be a candidate against him. 

That these promises were not well kept was not the chief 
surprise in store. As soon as the legislature had convened, 
it became apparent that a majority of the republican mem- 
bers favored the re-election of Carpenter. When, therefore, 
it seemed clear that no intrigue, attack or combination could 
prevent his nomination, a majority of the supporters of 
Washburn ^ announced that they should not enter the caucus, 

1 This is the letter : 

La Crosse, April 17, 1871. 

Dear General: — Your favors of the 12th inst. have been received. If 
I am to be a candidate for governor, I want it to be with the approval of my 
late colleagues, and of the leading men of the state. I should esteem 
highly a nomination that did not have to be fought for, but any other I 
would not have. 

As to the senators/lip, you can say that I shall never contest for that post f ion 
against either Howe or Carpenter. I have had my contest with both of these 
gentlemen, and I do not care to renew it. If I am to be a candidate for 
governor, I had rather that the press in the eastern part of the state should 
initiate the movement, if they are so disposed. I hope to see you here be- 
fore long, when I can more freely talk these matters over with you. 

Truly yours, C. C. Washburn. 

2B. M. Coates, B. F. Washburn, J. R. Rowlands, Ole Anderson, Kearton 
Coates, S. L. Nevins, John Bradley, Frank Leach, D. E. Welch, R, C. 
Field, Charles Dunlap, John Schuette, Marvin Osborne, J. E. Newell, Rob- 
ert Mitchell, J. B. Dwinnell, Marcus Barden, L. W. Barden, N. D. Com- 
stock and L. S. Chase, all republicans, refused to enter the republican 
caucus. They issued an " address," stating among their reasons for such 
action, that the time of holding the caucus did not suit them, and that " At 
the time of our election we were either pledged to oppose the re-election of 
Mr. Carpenter, or it was understood between us and our constituents that 
we would do so." They did not, by refusing to enter the caucus, make 
their opposition to Carpenter felt in the usual and legitimate way, but sim- 
ply broke loose from ordinary party usages. 



286 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

and at the joint meeting of the two houses they should bolt 
and prevent Carpenter's election. This was not gener- 
ally believed. Carpenter himself laughingly cast the an- 
nouncement aside, saying Washburn, who had profited 
by family harmony, would not permit his friends to partici- 
pate in political treason. The press of the state, almost 
without exception, denounced the originators of the plan, and 
called upon Washburn to set his foot at once upon the neck 
of the uncoiling serpent of rebellion. The Milwaukee 
Evening Wisconsin begged him to come to the front, as it 
was believed he could, and prevent a rupture of the party, 
and possibly the election of a democrat, by throwing his in- 
fluence and that of his friends for Carpenter, the same as 
Carpenter would do if Washburn should receive the caucus 
nomination, saying: " Washburn has received repeated nom- 
inations and elections through the action of party discipline, 
and he is not the man to ^ull down the house which he lias built 

upr 

Thus, with the public atmosphere weighted with the 
threats of Washburn's supporters and with the appeals of 
the entire party against them, the caucus of the republican 
members was called to order in the senate chamber at 8 
o'clock P. M., January 22, 1875, by Senator Horatio N. Davis, 
of Beloit. Senator John C. Holloway was chosen chairman 
and S. A. Harrison and Rockwell J. Flint were made secre- 
taries. Senator John B. Quimby's motion for a viva voce * 
vote was carried, and then Senator Henry D. Barron, of 
Polk, presented Carpenter for re-election. He said it was 
the desire of every public official to serve his country and 
his constituents to the best of his ability, and he thought 
those assembled around him could not more fully gratify 
that ambition than by returning Carpenter to the senate. 
" Not one of us," he said, " could travel in any of the states 
of this Union, during the senatorial agitations of this year, 
without hearing eulogies uttered and admiration daily ex- 

1 This is the first time the friends of any senatorial candid.-itc in Wiscon- 
sin ever felt strong enough to have a viva voce vote. 



THE COMBAT DEEPENS. 287 

pressed in connection with his name. Words concerning 
him are such as were lieard in the days of Daniel Webster. 
Carpenter has made Wisconsin known throughout the land. 
He has impressed the country with the thought that such a 
senator must have an intellectual and discerning constituency." 
Gen. George E. Bryant, a senator from Madison, was not 
personally favorable to Carpenter, but in a speech of some 
eloquence declared he was compelled to vote for him: 

I give my vote for Carpenter to-night, because tlie lovers of universal 
freedom throughout the United States demand it. I give my vote to Car- 
penter, because my old comrades in arms, soldiers who served with me in 
days that tried men's souls, and showed of what metal they were made, 
demand it. I give my vote to Carpenter, because the great industrial 
interests of the northwest demand it. I give my vote to Carpenter, be- 
cause four millions of loyal citizens, from whom Abraham Lincoln struck 
the accursed shackles of slavery, demand it. I give my vote for Carpenter, 
because I believe the intelligent sentiment of my district, the men who 
make and mould public opinion, demand it. And lastly, I give my vote 
for Carpenter, because duty — earnest, stern and conscientious duty — de- 
mands it. 

The informal vote showed fifty-nine members present and 
voting, as follows: 

For Matt. H. Carpenter — Henry D. Barron, Robt. H. Baker, George 
E. Bryant, H. N. Davis, Wm. H. Hiner, R. L. D. Potter, Wm. P. Rounds, 
T. D. Weeks, Andrew Barlass, Thomas Baker, Nat. M. Bunker, Zeb. P. 
Burdick, G. H. Calkins, J. G. Callahan, D. M. Coleman, Geo. H. Crosby, 
W. H. Dakm, Lem. Ellsworth, N. C. Farnsworth, S. S. Fifield, W. J. 
Fisk, T. L. Halbert, John Harsh, M. S. Hodgson, George Hunter, N. L. 
James, Wm. J. Kershaw, John Leigh, Hiram Merrill, Thomas O'Neill, J. 
W. Ostrander, B. Schlichting, Charles Scofield, E. M. Sharp, R. D. Smart, 
Rouse Simmons, J. H. Thomas, Isaac W. Van Schaick, Geo. H. Guern- 
sey and Fred. W. Horn — 40. 

For C. C. Washburn — Bleekman, Campbell, Quimby, Scott, Abrams, 
Adams, Jackson, Jeffrey, Marshall, Nelson, Piocker, Robinson — 12. 

For Horace Rublec — HoUoway and Flint. 

For L. S. Dixon — Caskey and Harrison. 

For W. E. Smtt/i—]onQs. 

For Lucius Fairchild — Lloyd. 

For W, P. Lyon — Beach. 

The formal ballot then resulted in forty-four for Carpen- 
ter (S. A. Harrison, O. R. Jones, Wm. Piocker and J. C. 



288 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Hollovvay having joined his supporters), and on motion of 
Senator Quimby the nomination was made unanimous with 
great enthusiasm. The caucus adjourned after the chair- 
man had appointed a committee to notify Carpenter of his 
nomination. " As the news of the result became known, the 
crowds about the capitol were wild with joy, and the great- 
est enthusiasm was manifested in all directions. The assem- 
bly chamber was packed with ladies and gentlemen, awaiting 
the result and expecting a speech from Carpenter. After 
a short time the committee appeared, and the sight of the 
nominee was a signal for the liveliest demonstration of ap- 
plause. It was several moments before quiet was restored 
so that he was able to speak. Senator Barron then intro- 
duced him as the * regular republican nominee for United 
States senator.' This was followed by unbounded ap- 
plause " ' — so vociferous, in fact, that no report of his re- 
marks could be made. He said that six yeai-s before he had 
taken this same stand and pledged himself to do his duty as 
United States senator. He expected to fall into mistakes, 
and though his expectations had been realized in this respect, 
he still claimed he had redeemed the pledge to the best 
of his knowledrje. He harbored no malice for the abuse he 
had received nor felt resentful toward the bearers of false 
charges. He was indeed proud of the re-nomination, but 
less proud of it than of the continued success of his party. 
Wisconsin was almost the only state that emerged from the 
late election with her head above the waves, and he im- 
plored all who pretended to be republicans to drop petty per- 
sonal prejudices and do whatever would best promote party 
and public welfare. 

PRESSURE FROM HOME. 

The following day was Saturday. A majority of the 
members scattered over the state to their homes, and to min- 
gle with their constituents. The bolters met the appeals of 

^Wisconsiu Siute 'Journal^ January 23, 1875. 



PRESSURE FROM HOME. 289 

the solid republican press (with one or two unimportant ex- 
ceptions) and of the multitude of loyal republicans, to do as 
the party had always done and stand by the caucus nomina- 
tion, since it was one of the fairest ever made, and re-elect 
Carpenter. But, having remained away from the caucus in 
Washburn's interest and with his sanction, and in order to 
be able to say with technical truth, that, not having partici- 
pated in its proceedings they were not bound by its acts and 
conclusions, they gave greater heed to the blandishments of 
the democrats — who immediately organized foraging expe- 
ditions for raiding the republican .camp — than they did to 
the strong and unanimous appeals of their own press and 
constituents. 

They returned to Madison on Monday, and began to 
mingle and counsel freely with the democracy. Day after 
day, and night after night, as the subsequent dead-lock con- 
tinued, by all the wanton political posings their genius could 
suggest, they invited the democrats to seduce them or join 
with them in some adulterous liaison, defiantly violating all 
political and party laws, for the avowed purpose of destroy- 
ing the lawful offspring of their own household by begetting 
something they knew to be wholly illegitimate. 

But this was not all. Disreputable intrigue and disgrace- 
ful alliance, with their numerous ramifications, did not cover 
the sins of the bolters. They or their abettors resorted to 
such falsehoods and forgeries as, in public or private busi- 
ness transactions, would have sent the offenders to the peni- 
tentiary. 

The democrats called a caucus for the ostensible purpose 
of making a party nomination, to meet simultaneously with 
the republican caucus, already described, on Friday, Janu- 
ary 22d. Having met and organized, they were informed 
by a committee of republican bolters that the aid of the de- 
mocracy was desired in consummating a breach of political 
law and usage unparalleled in the history of Wisconsin, and 
so adjourned until the following Monday evening. At that 
19 



290 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

time, the caucus re-assembled with closed doors. S. U. Fin- 
ney, of Dane, said he had been assured that twenty-one of 
the bolters would stand firm; that adjournment had been 
had for the sake of " eflecting an alliance with the dissatisfied 
republican faction," and that no action should be taken that 
could not at once be rescinded, if necessary. 

John A. Barney, of West Bend, said he had " the success 
of the reform party at heart, but he had been assured by the 
bolters that the defeat of the ' Young Lion of the West ' ^ 
would forever disrupt the republican party, and therefore he 
would be willing to meet them half-way in their laudable 
work of destroying their own party." He also said the 
bolters claimed that, while " one of their number would never 
vote for a democrat, and one was slightly shaky, twenty of 
them would vote for almost any liberal man the reformers 
might agree upon." He thought E. S. Bragg, of Fond du 
Lac (who had been a general in the Union army, and, al- 
though then a <7?/«5/-democrat, had been the regular republi- 
can candidate for congress against Charles A. Eldredge), 
would suit the bolters. Bragg was therefore chosen as a 
complimentary or trial candidate, to be withdrawn whenever 
those who had organized the bolt and sent word to the de- 
mocracy that they desired help to " defeat Carpenter and 
destroy the republican party," should demand it. 

THREATS MATERIALIZED 

On the following day, January 26th, as required by law, the 
two houses voted for United States senator. In the senate 
Carpenter received thirteen and in the assembly forty-six 
votes, making the fifty-nine who participated in the caucus. 
O. R. Jones was absent. He would have voted for Carpenter, 
giving him sixty votes — two-thirds of the entire republican 
portion of the legislature. The remaining votes were scat- 

A descriptive sobriquet given to Carpenter by Geo. W. Peck, of Peck's 
Sun, Milwaukee, and which was his popular nickname until the day of his 
death. 



MISCEGENATION. 29I 

tered between C. C. Washburn, E. S. Bragg, Horace Rublee, 
Orsamus Cole, J. T. Lewis and H. S. Orton. 

Thus the vote stood, with but slight variation, during ten 
long, stormy days — days full of suspense, sorrow, bitterness, 
supplication, agony and hatred. All the power of the entire 
republican party, press and officials of the great state of 
Wisconsin during this time was turned upon the few bolters 
who were blockading the election and injuring the party that 
had given them office, but with no more effect than had the 
Arab Sheikh's appeal to the sphynx to save Egypt from the 
invasion of Napoleon.* 

MISCEGENATION. 

Finally the president of one of the great railway corpora- 
tions of the northwest appeared on the scene. It was well- 
known that for other than political reasons he was anxious 

1 For instance, Senator Nevins, Washburn's brother-in-law and a leading 
bolter, received this letter from Angus Cameron, who was not a candidate, 
but subsequently became Carpenter's successor: 

" La Crosse, Wis., Jan. 24, 1875. 
" To Senator S. L. Nevins, Senate, and Assemblyman John Brad- 
ley, Assembly, Madison, Wis.: 

" Without any desire to dictate, and without presuming to direct what 
should be done in reference to the existing complications in regard to the 
senatorial contest in Wisconsin, the undersigned take the liberty, eis repub- 
licans -who kiive a stronger respect for the republican party than for any per- 
sonal considerations, to say, that, so far as we have ascertained the general 
sentiments of republicans here, they are in favor of maintaining, in all its in- 
tegrity, the organization of the republican party, through primary meetings 
or caucuses and conventions, and acquiescing in their deci>ions as to the 
nomination or choice of candidates for election to offices which are sub- 
ject to political or party action. 

"On this basis the republican party has hitherto acted; and now, when 
the result of a republican legislative caucus has been clearly expressed, we are 
of the opinion that to bolt the nomination -Mill establish a dangerous prece- 
dent, and virtually break up or seriously impair the usefulness or efficiency of the 
republican organization; especially when '■the boW is identified with or 
countenanced by those who are generally regarded as devoted friends of a 
prominent fellow-citizen [Washburn], who, through this party organization, 
has often been elected to positions of influence, honor and trust, which he 
has honored with distinguished fidelity to public interest. 

" Respectfully yours, Angus Cameron," and others. 



292 



LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



to effect Carpenter's defeat. The year before, in his speech 
at Ripon on the " Power of Legislatures to Control Corpora- 
tions of their Own Creation," Carpenter had sustained the 
constitutionality, necessity and sound public policy of the 
principles of the Potter railroad law, which was especially 
obnoxious to the railway corporations of the state. Before 
that he had taken advanced ground against the aggressions 
of corporate monopolies and in favor of legislative control of 
railways. 

This railway president suggested Angus Cameron, of La 
Crosse, as a compromise candidate. Mr. Cameron was an 
attorney for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway 
Company. He would therefore be satisfactory to the railway 
interests. With this statement of the case from the wealth- 
iest citizen, most powerful railway magnate and foremost dem- 
ocrat of the state, a conference of bolters and democrats 
•was secretly held on the night of February 2d, while a storm 
of snow and wind was raging without in terrific fury, blockad- 
ing railways and prostrating telegraph lines. Cameron's 
name was then presented. It was satisfactory to a majority 
of the bolters, but most of the democrats spleened against 
him.- He was a strong republican. The railway magnate's 
desire and indorsement, however, together with the fact that 
he had voted in a previous legislature against the Graham 
liquor law, were sufficient to solidify the fragments, and on 
the following day, February 3d, at noon, to the great surprise 
of everybody not in the secret, Angus Cameron received 
sixty-eight votes — one more than a majority — and was de- 
clared elected. He received the solid democratic vote, and 
the votes of sixteen republican bolters.' 



1 Senators, John Schuette, of Manitowoc; L. W. Barden, of Portage; R. 
C. FielJ, of Osseo, and S. L. Nevins, of La Crosse. Assemblymen, Ole 
Anderson, of Vernon; Marcus Barden, of Columbia; John Bradley, of La 
Crosse; Terry S. Chase, of Winnebago; Noah D. Comstock, of Trempea- 
leau; Charles Dunlap, of Walworth; John B. Dwintiell, of Columbia; 
Frank Leach, of Winnebago; Robert Mitchell, ot Marquette; James E. 
Newell, of Vernon; Marvin Osborne, of Rock; John R. Rowlands, of 
Columbia, and David E. Welch, of Sauk. 



"eating crow." 293 

It must be mentioned that James R. Doolittle, whom Car- 
penter had previously handled without gloves for "Johnson- 
izing," was present and contributed to the defeat. Before 
the coalition, and in public speeches after the election, he 
vouched to the democrats for the soundness of Cameron's 
democracy, and doubtless procured some votes that would not 
otherwise have followed the unholy bargain. He had his 
revenge, but Cameron was not then, never had been, and is 
not now, a democrat. He is one of the most unswerving re- 
publicans, and nothing to this day will so thoroughly agitate 
and disgust Wisconsin democrats as to cry Angus Cameron 
in their ears. Nor has he been the tool of the railways in 
the senate. 

At about the same time Carpenter was defeated by an 
ugly little faction of bolters, Zach. Chandler, in Michigan, 
and Alexander Ramsey, in Minnesota, were overthrown in 
a similar manner. The wickedness of these three mutinies 
is established by the judgment of history. General Ramsey 
soon became secretary of war, Chandler was elevated to the 
senate with increased confidence and power, and Carpenter, 
at the very next opportunity, was re-elected, and by the 
votes, too, of some who before composed the bolters. 

Minority factions can, it is true, by revolting and standing 
♦between the people and the people's choice, sometimes suc- 
ceed in defeating the popular will and making themselves 
notorious; but their work is yet to receive the unerring judg- 
ment of time and the approval of the masses. It is always 
better for the minority to yield gracefully to the majority; 
otherwise strife and chaos could never end. 

"EATING CROW." 

Several days before the caucus was held, the assembly 
adopted a resolution asking Washburn and Carpenter to 
publicly discuss certain leading issues of the day. Remem- 
bering, doubtless, the result of a similar proceeding six years 
before, Washburn promptly declined, and Carpenter, out of 



294 "LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

courtesy for his competitor, did the same, promising, how- 
ever, to address the public upon the questions mentioned, 
" after the senatorial caucus, whatever might be the result." 
This promise he cheerfully fulfilled amidst the sackcloth and 
bitterness of defeat. On Wednesday evening, February 3d, 
he was introduced by Senator H. D. Barron to as man}'- as 
could crowd into the assembly chamber. He began by say- 
ing; "I hail you as friends. The conqueror is attended by 
satraps and unwilling subjects; the captive is attended only 
by voluntary friends." He reviewed the fall campaign, the 
caucus, the dead-lock, and, coming down to the bolt, said: 

Then followed what is very unusual, and what I trust will not occur 
again in our state, nor in any state that has a republican majority ; a por- 
tion of the party seceded from the regular organization and organized a coali- 
tion with the democratic party. The substance of that arrangement was to 
sell me out. I thought it was a mistake on the part of our friends, upon the 
principle that, when you have a good thing, you ought to keep it. But, 
under the circumstances, if I was to be sold out, I certainly had no right 
to object to the price demanded, which was f/te luJiole democratic party of the 
state. 

I am very happy to say this evening that I am to be succeeded in the 
senate by no man of doubtful political sentiments, nor by any one who will 
fall into democratic practices. Mr. Cameron is known as a true and tried 
republican. I have seen this afternoon what I am informed is the platform 
upon which he consented to be elected. As I now recollect it, there is not 
a word in it that would not be indorsed by every republican senator in the« 
United States. This coalition was negotiated by a somewhat famous mas- 
ter — by the greatest political merchant of modern times, James R. Doo- 
little. He first sold the republican party to the democrats; but he has now 
squared the account by selling the democrats to the republicans. The con- 
sideration that was expected to be realized by the democrats for this trans- 
action and transfer was the defeat of the republican party in next tail's 
campaign. Now, we have but one thing to see to, and that is, considering 
the immoral contract, they be not permitted to get the consideration. 

Having presented all the great issues of the next presi- 
dential campaign, and advised the bolters to forget all 
their hatreds and present an unbroken front in 1876, he 
dwelt with great force upon the growing strength of cor- 
porate capital, and declared the legislature must not abandon 



THE SWEETS OF ADVERSITY. 295 

the principle of controlling corporations of its own creation, 
explained the destructive reign of anarchy and blood in 
Louisiana — upholding the action of President Grant — and 
pictured the duties of all lovers of their country, closing the 
address with this stirring appeal: 

Some say the mission of the republican party is ended. You might as 
well say that the mission of the church is ended, because the Bible 
is printed. 

As long as there is a wrong to be righted, as long as there is any privi- 
lege of citizenship to be protected, the mission of the republican party will 
exist. 

Let me implore you all, as republicans, having accomplished the purpose 
you had in view in separating into two bodies, to come back into camp, 
come to the common flag, and shoulder to shoulder march forward to the 
execution of our common purpose. 

THE SWEETS OF ADVERSITY 

At noon on February 4th, the day following his defeat, a 
telegram was received in Milwaukee stating that Carpenter 
had left Madison and would reach home at four o'clock. It 
was instaiitl}' reso'vsd that there should be some demonstra- 
tion of wekonie on the part of his fellow-citizens which 
would show that his defeat had not lessened the esteem in 
which he was held by neighbors and friends. A large con- 
course of citizens gathered at the depot. It was then learned 
that the train, owing to the storm that had been prevailing 
for some days, was over an hour late. The crowd, includ- 
ing the leading residents of Milwaukee, waited patiently in 
the storm, growing rather than decreasing in size. The 
long platforms were literally crowded. 

At last the snow-laden train — a picturesque sight, like a 
vast snow-drift on wheels — drew up. " Three cheers for 
Carpenter!" broke from every throat, and such a shout as 
might be expected when a multitude is delivered from de- 
struction, went up. As Carpenter issued forth from the cav- 
ern of snow, another cheer was given. He was accompanied 
by Edward Sanderson, Henry C. Payne and Angus Smith, 



296 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

friends and admirers, each of vviiom was greeted with cheers. 
The crowd surrounded them and surged toward the sleigh 
that stood in waiting. He had hardly entered it before the 
horses were detached and a rope nearly one thousand feet 
in length was fastened to the vehicle. Every inch of it was 
seized by those anxious to do homage to the defeated chief- 
tain and rebuke those who wickedly consummated his 
overthrow. 

The struggling crowds that were unable to grasp the rope 
thronged the street and sidewalks, shouting enthusiastically. 
Thus the party moved toward the center of the city, pre- 
ceded by Bach's military band. As the cosmopolitan pro- 
cession marched along, increasing as it moved, cheers and 
shouts rose above the music of the band. Finally, a halt 
was made in front of the Newhall House, more than a mile 
from the point where the horses were detached, and then 
the multitude cheered louder than ever. Carpenter rose to 
acknowledge the ovation, but his voice was lost in the tem- 
pest as though he were a chi^d attempting to drown the 
tumult of Niagara. At last, after repeated motions to be 
silent, the applause subsided, and he said: 

Fellow-Citizens of Milwaukee: — There is nothing that I would 
not gladly do, to-night, to let you know how I appreciate this expression of 
friendship. You know I have been defeated; you know I have no more 
favors to dispense — not even a postoffice. I must express my astonish- 
ment, therefore, at such an audience on such an occasion. Gentlemen, I 
can not make a speech, to-night, but, in consideration of this demonstra- 
tion, I will speak to you at the Academy of Music, before my return to 
Washington, to return to you my sincere thanks for the friendship you ex- 
press this evening, and to explain to you how this little job was done. 

At the close of his remarks, three cheers were given and 
repeated, and then another round for " Matt. H. Carpenter, 
the next President of the United States." 

He dismounted and entered the Newhall House. A gen- 
eral struggle to reach him then ensued, and for some time 
he stood hemmed in, shaking hands with the multitude. 
His face was flushed with pleasure, his eyes sparkled with 



THE SWEETS OF ADVERSITY. 297 

animation, and his replies to the numerous greetings were 
cordial and rollicking. The concourse seemed to so thor- 
oughly enjoy the occasion that it was discovered that some 
steps must be taken to bring the extraordinary demonstra- 
tion to a close. Therefore, the senatorial party with extreme 
difficulty elbowed through the crowd and descended the 
stairs. On reaching the door, the cry arose, as with one 
voice, "Take the rope, take the rope!" Carpenter then 
saw that escape was impossible, that he was literally "in the 
hands of his friends," and that the surging assemblage would 
listen to no terms of capitulation. His voice rang out in 
hearty laughter as he was lifted like a child into the vehicle, 
which, preceded by the band as before, was drawn by the 
people to the residence of Edward Sanderson, a half-mile 
distant. Along the route the sidewalks were alive with 
people, and from the windows and doorways of almost every 
house, ladies waved their handkerchiefs and men cheered for 
" Matt. Carpenter." When the party arrived at Mr. Sander- 
son's residence, the crowd refused to leave until Carpenter 
came out and made another speech. After repeated cheers, 
he appeared on the steps, and said: 

Now, gentlemen, let me return my sincere thanks for this demonstra- 
tion of your kindness, and on Tuesday night next I will speak to you at 
the Academy of Music. Good night, gentlemen. 

Three cheers were again given " for the next President," 
and the crowd slowly dispersed. 

No Wisconsin man in victory, and no other man in the 
Union in defeat, ever returned home to a more spontaneous, 
extended and heart-felt ovation than this. No participant 
will ever forget it, and it probably would have been an easy 
matter to find two thousand people claiming they grasped 
the rope that drew Matt. Carpenter's sleigh through the 
snow-drifts on that cold, stormy February evening. 



298 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

A CONFIDENTIAL TALK. 

According to promise, Carpenter addressed a public meet- 
ing in the Academy of Music, on Tuesday evening, Febru- 
ary 9, 1875. "It was announced that the hall would be open 
at seven o'clock. By six o'clock the crowd had commenced 
gathering, and at half-past six the spice in front of the build- 
ing was covered by a throng of people; and, finally, when 
the doors were opened, they went in with a rush that was 
actually perilous to human life; and still, in all parts of the 
city processions might have been seen movmg towards the 
Academy. Within five minutes after the doors were opened 
every seat was taken, and in an incredibly short time every 
foot of standing-room in the gallery, in the aisles and in the 
lobby was occupied. The stage was filled early in the 
evening, and it became necessary to lock the stage entrance 
to save room enough for the speaker. Hundreds came, 
looked and went; and as they went, met hundreds still com- 
ing, confidently expecting that they might fare better." * 

He was introduced to the multitude by Governor Harrison 
Ludington. Portions of his speech may be quoted to show 
how he talked with his friends confidentially: 

My Friends: — We have met, not to soitow and mourn, not to mingle 
our tears over defeat, nor yet to console disappointed candidates. In the 
presence of an enemy an army can not stop to mourn or even bury the 
slain. In the great movement of the people toward the accomplishment of 
our mission as a nation, accidents are to be expected, here and there a tem- 
porary check will be received, here and there a victim must fall. But let 
the dead past bury its dead. We live in the present; we live for the future. 
What is done, is done; let by-gones be by-gones — move on the column. 

I have come here this evening for two purposes, mainly: 

1. To return my thanks to the people of Milwaukee; and 

2. To beseech my personal friends here and elsewhere in the state to 
*^ smooth thiir -wrinkled front^^ g'.it into temper, and get into line, to win the 
next political campaign. 

I came to reside in Milwaukee in 1S5S. I had resided in the state ten 
years before that, but was almost a stranger here. I was welcomed and 

' Mihvaukce Seniincl, February 10, 1S75. 



A CONFIDENTIAL TALK. 299 

kindly treated by the bar, and by many of" our most excellent and distin- 
guished citizens. In all the vicissitudes of life which have since come to 
me, as they come to all, I have found the tenderest and most cordial sym- 
pathy. At the graves of two of my children I have been surrounded by 
warm hearts and moist eyes. While the slanders and detractions were 
b ing heaped upon me by political enemies because I was a steadfast and ar- 
dent supporter of the present republican administration, the people of Mil- 
waukee defended me, stood beside me, offered their sympathy in "kindly 
words," and, last fall, when I was a candidate for re-election, they elected 
six sound republicans, in six assembly districts, every one of which elected 
a democratic member the year before; and when I returned to the city the 
other night, in defeat, all my personal ambition covered with sack-cloth 
and aishes, a large crowd of our best people met me at the depot, in most in- 
clement weather, and braving the fury of a wintry storm, received me 
with a warmth of friendship that might gladden the heart of a king. This 
is the verdict of the people among whom I have resided for sixteen years. 
I know no words that can convey the depth of my gratitude; but, my 
friends, you must not think I do not feel it because I can not express it. 
And to my friends all over the state, what can I say? To the people of 
Rock county, who as one man almost, rallied to my support, what can I 
say? Nothing but thanks, thanks, thanks! 

Now, my friends, let us look to the future. And because the only safe 
lamp to light our path is that of experience, let me inquire what it was, that, 
despite the earnest support of such friends, accomplished my defeat. It is 
not to complain of the past but to point out the shoals upon which future 
political mariners may be wrecked, that I refer to this matter. My defeat 
is attributable to two causes, (i) We have a Washburn among us; and (2) 
I had offended capital in defending the rights of the people. 

Washburn entered the field in violation of his voluntary written promise 
not to do so; got fairly beaten by a viva voce vote in the caucus, by which he 
promised me, on the Wednesday before the caucus, he would abide — then 
helped to organize a bolt; his brother-in-law, Senator Nevins, of La Crosse, 
leading it, his newspaper, the La Crosse Republican and Leader, defending 
it, and his nephew, the son of Elihu B. Washburn, advocating it. Politi- 
cians are rather indifferent as to the means by which a man achieves polit- 
ical success. But whoever makes such an attempt in violation of solemn 
promise, gets fairly beaten on ground of his own choosing, and then bolts, 
will not be very favorably regarded. But Washburn alone could not have 
accomplished my defeat. His effort was seconded by the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee & St. Paul Railway Company. It is a little discouraging to reflect 
that, by standing by the rights of the farmers, I not only incurred the enmity 
of the monopolists, but the farmers themselves and their representatives be- 
came the instruments which the monopolists wielded for my defeat. Gran- 
gers enough voted against me to have elected me had they voted the other 



300 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

way. The monopolists stand by their friends; the people, too often, do not. 
And he who stands up for the rights of the people must make up his mind 
to the chance of being slaughtered by the people whom he has saved, while 
those who take grounds against the people and in favor of monopolies may 
expect to enjoy fat fees, and very likely even the support of the people 
whose rights they have ignored or betrayed. But they who prefer principle 
to place will take and abide their chance; and if they go down, their places 
will be filled by others, the blood of tlie martyrs becoming the seed of the church. 

My friends, in conclusion, let me appeal to you specially — you who have 
stood beside me beneath a storm of unparalleled detraction and abuse, you 
who labor always for the success of the republican cause, you who repre- 
sent the life-blood, the living principles, the muscle, the hope and the en- 
ergy of republicanism — to forget the personal disappointments involved 
in our late defeat, and to rally once more, and always and everywhere, to 
crush the heresies to which the democratic party is committed; to carry 
your flag into the storm of every battle until the people can be rallied to the 
protection of their dearest rights, and such traitors to the people and to 
liberty as James R. Doolittle may be laid in political graves to know no 
resurrection. Don't scold and wrangle and scowl; don't lose confidence 
in the people, whose sober second thought is always right; don't forget 
that amid all the reverses and mutations of human aftairs God calmly sits 
on his throne; that truth will ultimately prevail over falsehood and the right 
vanquish the wrong. Stand by the flag, wrap the mantle of human rights 
a little closer about you, close up the ranks, cheer your comrades, and 
whoever your leader may be, "keep step to the music of the Union," which 
is our asylum and citadel and the citadel and asylum of human rights. 

That portion of the speech devoted to James R. Doolittle, 
" the falsehoods and false promises of C. C. Washburn," and 
the " chicanery and political depravity of the hucksters," is 
not quoted. It was, however, juicy and entertaining to an 
incomparable degree ; but it makes a worse record for those 
under fire than is thought advisable to perpetuate in this 
volume. 

THE FRUIT OF DISASTER. 

The defeat of Carpenter, unjust as it was, and contrary to 
the sentiment of the people of his state, was not an incident 
that subtracts from the lustre of his subsequent career. By 
it the flood of universal sympathy was turned toward him; 
through it he obtained friends, strength and support that 



THE FRUIT OF DISASTER. 3OI 

otherwise never would have been his. As the victim of 
atrocity always has the heart of the people, so the wicked- 
ness of the means used to compass his political dethrone- 
ment raised Carpenter to the crest of popular favor and 
carried him higher up the eminence of undying fame and 
deeper into the love and esteem of his countrymen. 

Defeat did not send him to oblivion, as it does many an- 
other, but added substantially to his strength and renown. 
Had Napoleon died in 1805, in the height of his reign, all 
his conquests and stupendous maneuvres would have lacked 
that immutable splendor, and his whole career that mys- 
terious grandeur which were added by his betrayal at Water- 
loo, his unlawful arrest by a country of which he was not a 
citizen, and his lonely death upon the desolate rock of St. 
Helena. 



302 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

STILL ON TinL HUSTINGS. 

Being engaged in Washington and New York, Carpenter 
took no part in the campaign of 1875, ^^^^^ the last week, 
when he made several speeches for Harrison Ludington, 
the republican candidate for governor. During the presi- 
dential campaign of 1876 he delivered numerous addresses 
for R. B. Hayes in Wisconsin and other states. 

He seemed this year to have renewed his mental and 
physical vigor. He flitted from the circuit courts to the 
stump, and from the stump to the United States supreme 
court, in a manner that was truly marvelous. For instance, 
receiving sudden notice from the clerk of the supreme court 
that his presence was required in Washington, he started for 
that city with just time enough to reach it on the day of 
argument. He studied the cause as he rode, arrived in 
Washington, attended to the case and started to return on 
the same day. On reaching Chicago he telegraphed to 
Neenah that he would speak there on October 26th. The 
telegram reached its destination in the morning and Carpen- 
ter arrived at night. Notwithstanding the shortness of the 
notice, over two thousand five hundred people were present, 
and the meeting was a marked success. On the day follow- 
ing he spoke at Appleton. There was made the first synopsis 
of the speeches of that campaign. At the opening, he as- 
serted that he " should not deal in vituperation, for, if Tilden 
had been nominated at the Cincinnati convention, he would 
vote for him, and if Hayes had received the democratic nom- 
ination, he would not cast his ballot for him; for it is not the 
man we are called upon to support, but the principles of the 
respective parties." 

He defended Grant and the republican administration, 
referred to the achievements of both, and examined the pre- 



FIRING AT THE FLOCK. 3O3 

tenses of the so-called independent party that was then out 
on dress-parade. He asked: "If the republican party is 
right and the democratic party wrong, where must be the 
independent party? It is between right and wrong." At 
Fond du Lac he declared, on introducing ex-Governor Ed- 
ward Salomon to the audience, that he was " such a firm 
believer in special providence that he was satisfied, if the 
republicans were willing to have the government turned over 
to the democrats, God would not." 

At Oshkosh, Robert G. Ingersoll spoke in the afternoon, 
and Carpenter in the evening. IngersoU's terrible indictment 
had aroused the democrats to almost a fighting frenzy, and 
they poured out to hear Carpenter. A tremendous throng 
assembled, extending for blocks back from the hall. Several 
"overflow" meetings were held in different parts of the city. 
When he arrived he could hardly crowd through to the 
stage, which was full of distinguished people. The excite- 
ment was intense, but hardly equal to the oppressiveness of 
the heat. He threw off his coat, vest and collar, and pro- 
ceeded for two and one-half hours, amidst deafening cheers, 
with what Ingersoll pronounced "the best campaign oration 
he had ever heard." Carpenter closed the campaign on 
November 6th, suffering on that night an injury which was 
occasionally the cause of severe pain, and from which, as we 
shall discover, he never was fully recruited. 

FIRING AT THE FLOCK. 

When the Wisconsin state convention was held for the 
purpose of choosing delegates to the national republican con- 
vention of 1876, a proposition was made to elect Carpenter 
delegate-at-large. In fact, he himself had some desire to be 
chosen, his plan being to make a speech nominating Roscoe 
Conkling for the presidency. But as the state was generall}^ 
for James G. Blaine, and as the friends of Washburn pro- 
posed to make an inharmonious demonstration unless he 
should be made a delegate with Carpenter, the party man- 



304 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

agers deemed it advisable to discard both Carpenter and 
Washburn, and thus prevent any possible rupture or ill-feel- 
ing. 

Thereupon, the Milwaukee Sentuiel began an angry at- 
tack on the managers of the convention, principally E. W. 
Keyes. As Carpenter was supposed to own or control a 
portion of the Sentinel stock, Keyes wrote requesting his 
influence toward quieting the unjust dragonnade of that 
journal, at the same time giving the reasons which led the 
convention to discard both Carpenter and Washburn. The 
letter brought forth this peppery answer* 

Washington, D. C, March 3, 1876. 

Dear Keyes: — Hiave received your long letter in relation to the late 
{ state convention. The same mail brought me Chicago papers containing 

what they call an "inside" view of the convention. 

You think I know nothing about politics. Thank God for that. But it 
frequently happens that a man may correctly criticise a work of art which 
he could neither originate nor execute. 

I never exchanged a word with Botkin.loral or written, about the conven- 
tion ; nor did I with Murphey, except that I wrote him that 1 would like to 
be a delegate, if there was no objection. Mr. Botkin no more represented 
me in the convention than did any other man in it; and I am no more 
responsible for what he did, or did not do, than you are. 

But I must confess that the logic which controlled your course towards 
me I do not comprehend. 

Your syllogism stands thus: 

(i) A man who bolts a regular party nomination ought not to represent 
the party in a convention. 

(2) Washburn led and managed a bolt last winter against a regular and 
perfectly fair caucus nomination. 

Therefore, both Washburn who bolted, and Carpenter who was defeated 
by this bolt, are in the same situation : — neither of them can represent the 
party in a convention. 

No work of established authority upon the subject of logic, that I have 
read, enables me to understand how this conclusion, so far as I am concerned, 
results from the premises. 

You knew that Washburn bolted. This, in any party which recognizes 
either discipline or justice, should exclude him, until at least after the expira- 
tion of a reasonable period of probation. But vour theory recognizes no 
distinction between the murderer and the murdered. 

IThe editor of tlie Milwaukee Svuiincl. 



FIRING AT THE FLOCK. 305 

You know that after I was defeated by Washburn's bolt, I did everj- 
thing in my power to heal the breach and reconcile my friends to the result, 
60 as to save a split in the party. But according to your logic, I am in just 
as bad a condition with the party as he is, and " harmony " requires that I 
should be thrown overboard -with him. 

But again, you are aware that the bolt of last winter was as much against 
you as me. Some of the bolters said, in justification of their course, that 
my election would perpetuate your power in the party. 

When the state convention of 1875 ^'^^ held, the bolters, led by Howe 
and Sawyer, attempted to throw you overboard ; and you were saved by my 
friends. In the late convention, with full knowledge that every Wash- 
burn man hated you as bad as he did me ; and that my friends had saved 
you from their vengeance last year, you did not think that the interests of 
the party required you to decline. 

Again, while it was necessary, to secure " harmony," that I should be 
thrown overboard, it was very harmonious to elect as a delegate, I. M. 
Bean, a bolter. 

You say, speaking of the convention : " I succeeded, after great effort, in 
getting the thing into line and getting out of it satisfactory results." That 
is, you had your own way; and consequently you are responsible for what 
was done. You have delivered the party over to Sawyer, enabling him to 
pretend to Blaine, that he, Sawyer, procured a united delegation in favor of 
Blaine. Consequently, should Blaine be nominated and elected — neither of 
which is quite certain — Mr. Sawyer will be Blaine's lieutenant for Wis- 
consin. 

Howe and Sawyer will act together in everything relating to our state; 
and if you don't know that neither of them is friendly to you, you will find 
it out in time. Party harmony led you to slaughter me; and the next thing 
that party harmony will demand will be your head, and I do not see very 
clearly how you can object to an application to yourself of the logic you 
have applied to me. 

Sawyer likes you just as he does me; that is, there would be less rum- 
bling in his bowels if you and I were both in hades. 

It seems to me that you have broken with your old and natural friends, 
and allied yourself with men who will seek the earliest opportunity to put 
you out of the way. 

My experience with Washburn ought to have saved you from the folly I 
committed. Whatever may be said about the affinities in love, it is certain 
that in politics no combination of individuals of dissimilar tastes, views J 

and sentiments can prosper. A ship constructed of discordant materials 
will go to pieces in the first storm. You have, as I understand the situa- 
tion, united your destinies with Sawyer, who is only Howe's second self; 
and if you expect that they will stand by you after a convenient opportunity 
to throw you overboard, I predict you will be. disappointed. I hope 
30 



306 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

I am mistaken and that your trust is well bestowed, but we shall see. You 
have allowed them to play Napoleon's tactics, which were to divide his 
enemies and fall upon thein in detail with an overwhelming I'orce. You 
have helped them to slaughter me, and now they will not need my help to 
•laughter you. In the next state convention they will apply the principle 
of "/iiir/iiofiics" to you. 

But there is one view of this subject far more important than any mere 
personal consideration. If a handful of sore-heads can bolt a party nomi- 
nation and defeat the will of the majority of the party, and then insist that 
harmony in the party can only be secured by slaughtering the men who 
stood by the organization, and giving offices of profit and positions of trust 
and confidence to them, it does not require a prophet to predict the fate of 
such a party. 

There is but one principle upon which any organization, from a political 
party down to a sewing society, can be preserved, and that is that the ma- 
jority shall rule. Indeed, this is the fundamental principle of free institu- 
tions, and our national and state governments rest upon no other foundation. 
The democratic party has always understood this to be the essential ele- 
ment of success. Its line of march can be traced by the tombstones of 
bolters, /it that party, to bolt is to be buried. The consequence is, that at 
this time, when the success of the republican party is indispensable to the 
welfare of the country, the democratic party, with a damning record of the 
past, and most mischievous purposes for the future, is pressing us sore in 
every state of the Union. 

You seem to me to have entirely overlooked this view of the case, and 
to have given the weight of your influence against party discipline. It is 
fashionable now-a-days to decry party discipline. But considering that we 
are opposed by a party which does enforce discipline with the utmost rigor, 
it is mere folly for us to say that we will make no distinction between 
steady adherents and those who support the ticket only when they are can- 
didates. If our friends will not consent to act in party organization as a 
•unit, then the fate of the party is as clearly to be seen as the fate of disor- 
ganized numbers opposed by regular troops. 

The result in this instance has been that those who stood by the party 
organization, adhered to its usages and followed its flag in the storm, stand 
aside, that bolters may be advanced. This is as wise as it would be to give 
the command of an army to those who had deserted from its ranks in bat- 
tle, or the command of our navy to mutineers. The Master laid upon his 
apostles two injunctions: to be as harmless as doves, but wise as serpents. 
Our party submits to the first and rejects the last; and while we are play- 
ing the dove, the serprtit is moving on the White House. 

If you had taken the ground that it was best for the interests of the party 
that all who were prominent in last winter's contest should stand aside, and 
illustrated it by standing aside yourself and defeating Bean — already suffi- 



MORE JUICY LETTERS. 307 

ciently rewarded for his bolt by receiving the best office in the state ' — 
your course, whether wise or not, would have been consistent. 

Truly yours, Matt. H. Carpenter. 

MORE JUICY LETTERS. 

C. C. Washburn's paper, the La Crosse Republican and 

Leader^ continued its severe course of criticism of Carpenter 

long after he had become a private citizen. To one of these 

strictures he thus openly replied: 

Washington, March 23, 1S77. 
To the Editor of the La Crosse Republican and Leader : 

A friend has sent me your paper of the 17th inst., containing your admi- 
rable article, entitled " Carpenter's New Trouble." 

Your friendship for me is so well-known, your grief for my "troubles" so 
deep and sincere, and your editorial mention of me always so candid and 
just — not to say generous and flattering, — that I am sure some enemy of 
mine must have imposed upon you, and induced you to say some things in 
this article more painful for you to write than for me to read. 

One thing is not up to your usual style of compliment; you say: "Mr. 
Carpenter is nothing, everything and anything for pay or policy." In con- 
nection with this, you might have added, " Since the firing upon Fort Sum- 
ter he has always voted the straight republican ticket, never 'bolted' a 
candidate, and has been on the stump for the republican party in every 
campaign except one, and that was the year when General C. C. Washburn 
scorned all assistance, put the party in his pocket and disappeared with it." 
Again you say : 

"We have always thought better of Mr. Carpenter's talents than his 
character, but of late he has exh bited a degree of inaptitude for placing 
himself in harmonious accord with the winning side, that leads us to won- 
der if his intellect is not beginning to sympathize with his other weaknesses." 

This is more characteristic of you than anything else in the article. You 
think a man must be crazy who stands by what he believes to be the right, 
when to do so is unprofitable or unpopular. " Inaptitude " for placing one's 
self in accord with the ivinning side, you regard as a fatal delect of charac- 
ter, or evidence of waning intellect. You conclude your confession of my 
sins as follows : 

"Just now the republicans of Wisconsin have no official harness for 
Mr. Carpenter to train in." 

"Just now." Just so. You have no further use for me until you have 
another ticket in the field and want me to go on the stump and advocate 
its election. 

1 Collector of internal revenue at Milwaukee. 



308 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Very well. Then what is the objection to my practicing law, "just now? " 
When you have no use for me, no '^'•harness for me to train in" why may I 
not attend to my own business? 

Again, if I should go to La Crosse and pitch into you about the manner 
in which you conduct your private business, you might ask me two puz- 
zling questions: 

(i) When did I obtain an appointment as your guardian, entitling me to 
control you in the management of your own affairs; and 

(2) Conceding my right, whether I was sure that I knew how a business 
ought to be conducted, which I had never been engaged in, better than you 
who had devoted to it a life- time? 

While I was in the senate it was not only your right but your dufy as an 
impartial journalist to abuse me for everything I did, and everything I did 
not do. And you exercised that right and performed that duty with strik- 
ing constancy. But "just now" I am a private citizen, trying to pay my 
taxes and support my family by practicing a profession, the duties of which 
I have spent a life-time in studying. 

Every art has its rules, and every profession its ethics. It is well settled 
that an advocate should not devote his services exclusively to himself, his 
family, his relatives, his neighbors, his party or his church; but that he 
should serve all men in the interest of truth and justice. No lawyer can be 
disgraced by a bad cause; but only by his management of it. The cause 
is his clienfs; the management hts own. The constitution of the United 
States, and of every state of this Union, provides that every criminal — 
the loulest traitor and the boldest murderer — shall have a fair trial by an 
impartial jury, process to compel the attendance of his witnesses, and the 
assistance of coun'iel. It is a part of a lawyer's oath that he will support the 
constitution. If one lawyer ought to refuse to appear for a criminal, all 
should; and this provision ot the constitution would be defeated by those 
who have taken an oath to obey it. The oath anciently administered to 
the advocates of England was that they should fight for their clients. 
" Make war " was the injunction. Of course no advocate is either required 
or permitted to contend for a proposition of law which he does not believe 
to be sound, nor to misrepresent a fact. But it is his duty to press every 
principle of law favorable to his client, and every fact in his favor, upon 
the consideration of the judge, who alone is charged with the duty of 
deciding. And as Chief Justice Marshall once said, it is a dreadful bad 
case that hasn't something right about it. 

Now, possibly, this may not meet your approbation. But it has the ap- 
probation and the recorded sanction of many of the brightest names in 
history, from Cicero to Dcnman, Brougham, Marshall and Webster. And 
a lawyer may be pardoned for following the advice of the greatest lawyers 
who ever lived, in regard to professional duty, even in opposition to the 
opinion of an editor as celebrated as yourself. 



WORTHY OF JUNIUS. 3O9 

I write this, hoping to provoke you to a further discussion of the subject, 
from which I shall obtain the benefit of a free advertisement of the fact 
that I am practicing law upon sound principles. Advertisement is very 
expensive, and any reasonable device to escape from such expense is allow- 
able. Affectionately yours. 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 

WORTHY OF JUNIUS. 

To this, the letter having some reference to him, Wash- 
burn replied through the Chicago Tribune^ charging his 
defeat for the governorship in 1873 upon the exasperated 
condition of public sentiment against Carpenter and his col- 
league, Senator Howe, because they had taken " back pay." 
To that Carpenter replied openly: 

Washington, April 24, 1877. 

My Dear General: — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your favor of the 6th inst, not addressed to me, but evidently intended for 
my perusal. This seems to be your favorite form of correspondence. The last 
in this form, was your letter to General Rusk, dated April 17, 1871, inspired, 
by your discontent with private life and your anxiety to be useful to the 
people of your state in the capacity of governor. 

In November, 1874, when you thought your friends were trying to force 
you into a position which you felt would be dishonorable, and a violation of 
your plighted faith to occupy, you published a pretended copy of that let- 
ter. I do not think it was a true copy ; but as j'ou say it was, I quote from 
it the following: 

"As to the senatorship, you can ja^ that I shall never contest for that 
position against either Howe or Carpenter. I have had my contest with 
both these gentlemen, and do not care to renew it." 

Your letter of November 30, 1874, published with the pretended copy of 
your former letter, was undoubtedly intended to show your friends that you 
could not, without dishonor, be a candidate for the then ensuing senator- 
ship. But it seems that your friends, who knew you well, did not believe 
that you would refuse an office merely because its acceptance involved dis- 
honor; and so — much against your wishes, no doubt — they continued to 
press you as a candidate. I have always thought that you were rather un- 
fortunate in the language of your letter ot November, 1874; and that, had 
you shown the same sternness to your friends that you exhibited to the 
rebels at Memphis, they would have desisted. And I have sometimes 
thought that, after you were fairly defeated in the legislative caucus by the 
viva voce votes of more than a majority of all the republican members of 
the legislature, you might, even then, have done something towards rescu- 



310 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

ing your reputation as a man of truth, by urging your friends to support 
the regular nominee. But probably you thought it was too late to preserve 
your character; and so you resolved to show that, although you were 
uncertain in keeping your word, you were, at least, to be relied upon when 
you determined to break it. 

In your letter just received, you express your reluctance to enter into a 
"personal controversy," and say you write only to "vindicate the truth of 
history." That you have returned to a solicitude for truth in anything, is 
a hopeful sign in your case; and in that endeavor I may aid you by supply- 
ing .-^ome facts you find it convenient — perhaps consolatory — to forget. 

You rebuke the editor of the Republican and Leader for his attack upon 
me, and then proceed to abuse me far more than he had — evidently re-, 
garding abuse as your own prerogative; and so far as it rests upon misrep- 
resentation, no one will question your superior fitness. 

You refer to your masterly retreat in the campaign of 1S73, and seem 
offended at my saying you " scorned all assistance, put the party in your 
pocket, and disappeared with it;" and you express the belief that I desired 
your defeat In this you are mistaken. I desired your election ; but the 
people did not, and, in the light of your subsequent conduct, I must confess 
they were right. 

Your assertion that I was " holding the most intimate relations, at the 
time, with the most powerful opponents of the republican party," is alto- 
gether worthy of you — it is entirely false. 

You proceed to unfold the reason why you were defeated in 1873, by 
more than fifteen thousand majority, after having been elected two years 
before by some eight or ten thousand. And with characteristic modesty, 
you assert your personal popularity; and to prove it, you quote a resolution 
passed by the convention merely to catch votes, but which seems to have 
imposed even upon you, declaring that your administration had been " very 
able, wise and judicious." I infer from the manner in which you parade 
this resolution that you mean to admit that it is true. But it appears from 
your letter, that altliough the convention nominated you unanimously and 
puffed you gloriously, yet thirty-eight thousand republicans refused to 
vote for you. The inference from this might be that the convention did 
rot express the views of the party concerning you; and to avoid this in- 
ference, you try to show why it was that so "able, wise and judicious" a 
governor, and withal one so very popular, was unable, after a thorough 
canvass of the state in his own proper person, to get within thirty-eight 
thousand votes of the strength of his party. 

Your productions arc always interesting and brilliant; but in this letter 
you have not been quite so clear as might be desired; and after reading your 
letter over several times, as I do all your state papers and public speeches, 
I am still in doubt whether you intend to charge the thirty-eight thousand 
with having been bribed by the whisky ring. If you do mean this, then 



WORTHY OF JUNIUS. 3II 

the charge against them is moi-e seriou,g than your charges against me. 
You think the whisky ring poured out money Hke water " to compass 
your defeat." Your newspaper at La Crosse is cliarging, even down to 
this time, that Mr. Keyes was one of the leaders of the whisky ring. 
You say Mr. Keyes conducted the campaign with as much vigor as 
possible considering the obstacles he had to encounter. Do you mean to 
say that Mr. Keyes conducted the campaign for you with as much vigor as 
was consistent with the fact that he was leading the whisky ring against 
you.^ Private instructions to your La Crosse editor might have more in- 
fluence upon him than your published regret ot the articles in his paper 
inspired by you. 

But in another part of your letter you represent the thirty-eight thousand 
republicans who refused to vote for you, not as bribed by the whisky ring» 
but simply disgusted with Senator Howe and myself in regard to back 
pay — disgusted with me because 1 voted for the bill and took the money, 
thinking it was right; with Senator Howe, who voted against the bill, think- 
ing it was wrong, but took the money because he wanted it. And yet, to 
do Senator Howe justice, it should be stated that when the bill which in- 
cluded the back-pay section was put in peril by the motion of Senator 
Wright, of Iowa, to recommit the bill to the committee — the result of 
which, had the motion been successful, would have been to strike out the 
back-pay section — the question upon which the fiite of back pay dependetj. 
Senator Howe voted against the motion. This vote was given when the 
bill needed the support of its real friends, and goes ftir to excuse his vote 
against the bill on its final passage, after it had become evident that it would 
pass the senate by an overwhelming majority, and therefore no longer stood 
in need of the votes ot those senators who thought the bill might render 
those who voted for it unpopular. 

You quote from the proceedings of the convention which nominated you 
for re-election, two resolutions, which you say were pointed squarely at me. 

It is especially at this point that " the truth of history " demands a state- 
ment somewhat more complete than you find it convenient, or even credit- 
able to yourself to make. 

After the committee had retired from the convention to agree upon 
resolutions — a majority of the committee being my warm personal friends — 
Mr. Keyes went to the room of the committee with some resolutions, which 
I am informed were concocted between you and him, and which were aimed 
squarely against me, and urged the committee to report them as a part of 
the platform. This the committee refused to do. Afterwards Mr. Keyes' 
re-appeared before the committee, disclaimed any thought of making an 
attack upon me, and declared himself to be my warm friend; whereupon 
the committee took the resolutions and modified them so as to make them 
entirely unpersonal, and adopted them. Therefore when you speak of the 



312 LIFE OF CARPENTER- 

resolutions as aimed squarely at me, it is fair to presume jou refer to the 
resolutions 1 you and Mr. Keyes agreed upon, and not those reported to and 
adopted by the convention. 

Nevertheless, the resolutions as adopted condemned back pay and de- 
manded the repeal of the law. This, you assume, was the cause of your 
defeat. But " the truth of history " requires it to be stated why it was that 
your defeat was accomplished by public indignation against Senator Howe 
and myself. The people, very likely, would have elected you, and reserved 
their wrath for Senator Howe and myself, but for the fact that you were, in 
regard to back pay, "the original Jacobs," and we were only your imitators. 

The history of back pay is now so well understood that you merely show 
your contempt of public intelligence by trying to shirk responsibility your- 
self and heap odium upon Senator Howe and myself. In 1S56 the back- 
pay bill passed the house of representatives, of which you were a member, 
by only one majority. You voted for it. So your vote passed the bill. 
Had you voted the other way the bill would have been defeated. This is 
the reason why public indignation against back pay fell upon you. You 
and Mr. Ke^-es ingeniously "digged a pit" for Senator Howe and myself; 
and you were the first to fall into it. The manifest purpose of the people 
was to bury us all in the same grave. I never felt proud of the compan- 
ionship as far as you were concerned, but I could not dispute your right to 
be there. The great mistake you and Mr. Keyes made, looking to the suc- 
cess of the party — and neither of you cared for anything else — was in 
directing public attention to, and expressing public condemnation of, a mat- 
ter in which you were as deep in the mud as Senator Howe and myself 
were in the mire. It might have been very well for you to have cast cen- 
sure upon us if you could have destroyed all evidence of the fact that, if 
we were m the wrong, it was in following your example. But this you could 
not do. And your resolutions were a flat condemnation of yourself as the first 
transgressor. The people found in your platform a positive condemnation of 
back pay. They knew you had been the first to vote it and pocket it. There- 
fore your platform was regarded as your own confession. And whatever the 
thirty-eight thousand republicans might have thought of back pay, they 
would not vote for a candidate who was proclaimed by his own platform to be 
a rascal. The lesson of prudence this suggests for your future consideration 
is, that, before condemning your neighbor, you should first ask yourself how 
many times you have done the same thing. Mr. Keyes is too smart to have 
committed such a blunder if he had been upon the state ticket with back 
pay in his pocket, as you were. But his love for you is not greater than 

1 These resolutions were drafted by Ed. E. Bryant, of Madison — not by 
Keyes or Washburn. They did deprecate " back pay," but not as a per- 
sonal thrust against Carpenter and Howe, but as a matter of party policy. 



WORTHY OF JUNIUS. 313 

his love for me, and by no means equals his love of himself. Possibly he 
may have seen that such resolutions would kill Senator Howe, yourself 
and myself. And it remains to be seen whether he was not right. But 
your astuteness in the transaction is not equally clear, because your resolu- 
tions lifted the bludgeon above your own head, and you were sure to receive 
its first blow, as you did. 
* Had your skirts been clear of what your platform denounced as rascality, 
the people, if they took your view of it, might have rejoiced in being able 
to vote for you as the only " able, wise, judicious " and J>ure man left. But 
after you had raised the cry of " Stop, thief! " against those who had voted 
and taken back pay, it was found out that you had the same infirmity. 

It would have been strange, indeed, after you had by your platform in- 
flamed the public mind upon this subject, if the people, in the very heat of 
their wrath, had voted for you, whose example Senator Howe and myself 
had only followed. 

There was another cause contributing to your defeat which you forgot to 
mention. While the people can swallow you if it is absolutely necessary, 
they have never hankered for you. You have always been a nauseous 
dose. It was all your friends and enemies combined could do to nominate 
you for governor in 1871. Hon. Wm. E. Smith came very near beating 
you. But you squeezed in; and you admit that you made a good gov- 
ernor, a "very able, wise and judicious " governor. You might have been 
re-elected govertior in 1873. That was not what you were after. You 
were panting for the senate. You were determined to succeed me, or four 
years later to succeed Senator Howe; and many believed you intended to 
succeed both of us. Holding one office, so far from satisfying your ambi- 
tion, only sharpened your appetite. -After you were nominated you resolved 
to play a lone hand in the campaign. You did not want any help on the 
stump. You wanted to carry the party to success by your own unaided 
effort. Your speeches made no allusion to anybody but yourself; indeed, 
you seemed to wish the people to see no one, hear no one, support no one, 
but yourself. 

You got the full force of public indignation against back pay, because 
you were the first transgressor; and to this was added a huge disgust of 
your vanit}', pomposity and self-sufficiency. This was the weight that 
pulled you down. 

After writing to my friends in 1S71, asking them to support you for gov- 
ernor, I received from one of them a letter, from which, to show how much 
better he knew you than I did, I make the following quotation : 

"You are making a great mistake. Washburn is a natural hog. He 
has no appreciation of justice; much less a sense of generosity or honor. 
No matter what he may promise, he will use all the influence he may ac- 
quire as governor to beat you for re-election to the senate. You can give 



314 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

no excuse for trusting him ; and, when his treachery shall secure your ruin, 
your fate will excite no pity; because every one will say you ought to have 
knov-'tt better. He is dead now, having been defeated for re-nomination to 
congress in his own district; and I don't see why you wish to resurrect 
him." 

With all the admiration for you, my dear general, which your qualities 
are calculated to inspire, I am very respectfully, 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 



VICTORY AND RETRIBUTION. 315 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

VICTORY AND RETRIBUTION. 

Carpenter's third canvass for the senatorship was from 
every point of view an extraordinary one. Howard M. 
Kutchin, of the Fond du Lac (Wis.) Commonwealth^ had, in 
the course of natural events, formed a strong personal at- 
tachment for Carpenter. In addition to this, he had been 
engaged in a bitter political feud with Timothy O. Howe, 
whose term in the United States senate would expire on the 
4th of March, 1879. This fact added a sharp flavor of 
earnestness and aggression to his efforts which they might 
not otherwise have had. Very early in 1878, therefore, he 
set forth in his paper his idea of the justness and general 
desirability of choosing some young, vigorous and popular 
man as the successor of Mr. Howe, his object being two- 
fold — the destruction of Howe and the elevation of Car- 
penter. 

He had few helpers. Nevertheless the battle was contin- 
ued according to a simple plan, without a word or sign from 
Carpenter, who was deaf to all importunities, refusing to be- 
come a candidate for the reason that he could not afford the 
sacrifice. He had important litigation on hand that was not 
only bringing a handsome income, but would demand his 
attention for some distance into the future. Therefore, he ex- 
postulated, to enter into a political struggle, especially if it 
should be a successful one, would seriously impair his pro- 
fessional business. This dogged persistency in refusing to 
accede to the wishes of his warmest and dearest friends had 
no deterrent effect on their efforts in his behalf, and in the 
course of a few weeks a respectable number of influential 
journals had formally enlisted in his cause. 



3l6 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



MYSTIFICATION. 

Thus the demonstration in his behalf grew to apparent 
strength and magnitude. Although it had gone on until it 
would have been not less impossible than unpleasant and 
ignominious to destroy and abandon it; and although appar- 
ently there was no alternative but to permit himself to be 
announced as a candidate, yet he still refused to say the 
word. It was while the eflbrt to get some formal decision 
from him was going forward that he submitted to an " inter- 
view " by a newspaper correspondent at Washington. It 
was the correspondent's intention to discover whether Car- 
penter was a candidate. After giving his views freely upon 
the injury the republican organization had received from Pres- 
ident Hayes' policy of so-called civil service reform and of 
allowing southern democratic congressmen to control repub- 
lican federal patronage, he was led down to the senatorship: 

Correspondent. — Will Howe be returned to the senate? 

Mr. C. — It is impossible to say. If he had served but one term he would 
undoubtedly be re-elected. But many think that twentv-four years, nearly a 
quarter of a century, in the senate is too long from a young and growing 
state like ours. But others think that his experience would be valuable 
and for that reason he ought to be retained. 

Cor. — Is Philetus Sawyer a candidate.' 

Mr. C. — It is understood that Sawyer will support Howe while he has 
any chance, and will become a candidate if Howe can not be re-elected. 

Cor. — What kind of a senator would Sawyer make ? 

Mr. C. — One evidence of a man's ability to fill a public position is his 
success in his private life. Mr. Sawyer has been eminently successful in 
business. While in congress he achieved a reputation second to that of no 
member ever elected from our state. He would make a good senator.l 

Cor. — How about Keyes? 

Mr. C. — Keyes has always been an active, energetic republican, indefati. 
gable in his efforts for the success of the party. He has been postmaster up- 
ward of sixteen years, and chairman of the state central committee, and has 
necessarily made bitter enemies. But he has strong friends also, and ii he 
should be elected senator would not only give strict attention to the details 

1 Sawyer was chosen senator in iSSi. 



MYSTIFICATION. 317 

of political affairs, but would devote himself untiringly and successfully to 
the interests of his constituents. 

Cor. — But every one I see from Wisconsin says you are a candidate and 
are to succeed Howe. 

Mr. C. — Yes. I hear this four or five times every day myself, but I 
never believe more than half I hear. 

Cor. — Why do you not announce yourself as a candidate? There seems 
to be an impression that your chances would be good. 

Mr. C. — In the first place I am not and never was a politician. 

When I became a candidate in 186S I had been in the republican party 
only since the war, and those republicans who believed that no good could 
be done by any man who ever had been a democrat lacked confidence in 
my republicanism, and predicted that if I should be elected I would betray 
the party. The contest, therefore, became personal. My support came 
from personal rather than political friends. But my friends rallied from 
every part of the state, spending their time, paying their own expenses, 
hundreds actually sleeping on the floors of the hotels when other accommo- 
dations could not be had. Rock county, in particular, where I had lived 
from boyhood, sent an army to Madison, and one dear old friend — Colonel 
Burdick — staid there three weeks, electioneering all day and praying all 
night for my success. No man ever had warmer friends than thronged 
about me in that contest, and they literally bore me through the storm and 
landed me in the senate. There, for six of the best years of my life, I la- 
bored incessantly to prove myself worthy of the support of such friends. 
At the end of my term I was a candidate for re-election by a viva voce vote 
of more than a majority of all the republicans in the legislature, and from 
the first to the last ballot I received the votes of more than two-thirds of 
all the republican members of the legislature. What followed is well 
known to all our state. I was defeated and Mr. Cameron was elected. 
During this contest my friends rallied again with the same enthusiasm as 
before, spending days and weeks at their own expense to secure my re- 
election. Now, while I would make any sacrifice in my power to confer 
favor upon these friends, I have not the cheek to ask them to make further 
efforts in my behalf. Since my defeat I have devoted myself exclusively 
to my profession, and have good hope of being able to pay my taxes and 
support my family without seeking any political position. 

Cor. — You don't mean to say, then, that you would not accept the posi- 
tion if your friends should elect you.' 

Mr. C. — I think what I have said covers the question. My professional 
experience has taught me that a witness who volunteers testimony gener- 
ally gets into trouble. 

This interview was very generally reproduced by the 
newspapers of Wisconsin. Many were wholly unable to 



3l8 I.IFE OF CARPENTER. 

come to a firm conclusion as to the exact meaning of the naive 
reply which ended it. Some were of opinion that it was a 
final declension of the office, while others thought the correct 
interpretation should be " Barkis is willin'." 

A man of mystery is always a man of success as well as 
fame; and so, in the midst of the mystification this interview 
produced, the campaign progressed with renewed interest if 
not with increased effectiveness. Curiosity as to whether 
Carpenter was really a candidate for the senatorship had 
hardly become fairly aroused when the following letter, in 
response to the sharp attacks of the Chicago Tribune^ ap- 
peared in that paper: 

Washington, Aug. i8, 1S7S. 

A friend has just sent me an editorial article from your paper of some 
days ago, in which you represent me as having been out of, and now trying 
to return to, the republican parly. 

The interest you have always taken in my political welfare, and the fact 
that you have recently nominated me as a greenback candidate for congress 
in the Milwaukee district, authorize me to ask you to point out what word 
spoken by me or what act performed by me has indicated that I was out of 
the republican party at any time since I joined it. 

You say, since my defeat for re-election to the senate, my political status 
has been " matter of conjecture?'' With you it may have been. There are 
men who never get beyond conjecture, and whose minds never settle "into 
the calm of a contented knowledge" upon any subject. After reading 
your paper for years, through the mazes and bewilderment of your financial 
theories, and seeing your paper facing sometimes one way and sometimes 
the other — sometimes for Greeley and sometimes for Grant, — I have long 
since classed you in this category. 

But in the article before me you say that my appearance before t!ie elect- 
oral commission was regarded as a repudiation of party fealty, and my 
friends had lost all taith in my republican integrity. 

Before any friend of mine, or even you, can maintain that my appearance 
there was a repudiation of party fealty, you must first establish another 
proposition upon which it depends, viz.: that the object of the electoral 
commission proceeding was not honestly to ascertain who had bjen elected, 
but to seat Mr. Hayes, ■whether he had been elected or not. 

I then had, and still have, too much confidence in the honesty of the 
republican party to suppose that it desired any but a fair and honest trial ; 
a trial in which both sides should be fully heard by counsel, after which an 
impartial judicial judgment should be pronounced, by which all parties 
should, m honor, be bound. 



MYSTIFICATION. 319 

I was not in public life, but was practicing my profession to earn a living; 
and upon the theory that the object of that trial was to ascertain, not wlio 
ought to have been, but who, in fact, had been elected, my appearance there 
was no more a repudiation of party fealty than it is for a republican lawyer 
to appear for a democratic plaintifY against a republican defendant in an action 
of ejectment, or assault and battery. It was not prejudice or party passion, 
but law and facts, which were to be inquired into, as a basis of the decision 
of the commi sion. The trial was had, the decision pronounced, and the 
people accepted the decision, as they do that of all courts, as conclusive of 
the right of the successful party to hold the office in question. 

In the trial of Andrew Johnson on impeachment — a political trial, — Mr. 
Evarts appeared as counsel for Mr. Johnson. So far from losing his party 
status by so doing, he was immediately afterward confirmed by a republi- 
can senate as attorney-general, and is now secretary of state under Mr. 
Hayes. 

The commission as constituted was composed of a majority of republican 
members; and there was never any great danger that Tilden would be 
made President by its decision, unless he was fairly entitled ; and if he 
was, I suppose every honest man desired that he should have the office. 

Again, it is difficult to see how the argument I made there should read 
me out of the republican party, when it is considered that in the senate, two 
years before, I had made speeches on the bill for a new election in Louisi- 
ana, contending for precisely the same propositions I mamtained in argu- 
ment before the commission, and was then sustained by the votes of a 
majority of republican senators, after which I was supported for re-election 
by two-thirds of the republican members of the legislature, and was only 
defeated by the action of the democratic party, aided by some personal 
enemies in my own party. 

You say that there has been talk of late about my being a compromise 
candidate for the senate, to be supported by democrats and my personal 
friends among the republicans. 

There are many democrats in our state I am proud to claim as personal 
friends, and, if I were a candidate, I should be proud of their support; pro- 
vided, always, it was not obtained by false pretenses. But I should feel 
humiliated and disgraced, were I to accept an office conferred by them 
under false impressions of my political status, or false expectations of my 
future political course. 

I am aware that, ordinarily, it is great indiscretion to enter into a contro- 
versy with an editor, who has so much the advantage. But in this instance 
I can lose nothing. You have always treated me as meanly as you knew 
how, and, from reading your paper, I see no evidence that your capacity is 
on the increase. Truly yours, 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 



320 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



THE MATTER SETTLED. 

Those who were opposed to Carpenter's election were 
further rejoiced over their own interpretation of next to the 
last paragraph in the preceding letter. They declared it to 
be a plain denial of his candidacy, and raised a vociferous 
clamor about those who were yet in doubt. This was done 
for the purpose of confounding as many as possible of those 
who would naturally, in a clear campaign, be Carpenter's 
supporters. But the deterrent influences of uncertainty were 
finally destroyed in an elTective and flattering manner. A 
petition, dated August 26th, signed by several thousands of 
the leading business and professional men of Milwaukee, ask- 
ing him to become a candidate for the senatorship, reached 
Carpenter on the i8th of September. On the day following, 
his reply was given to the public: 

Milwaukee, Sept. 18, 1878. 
Messrs. Bradley and Metcalf, E. B. Wolcott, M. D., Fred. Pabst, John Pritz- 
lafT, J. H. Inbusch, G. Pfister, David Adler, Chas. E. Andrews, George 
Burnham, Rud. Nunnemacher, J. B. Le Saulnier, Jacob Blum, R. W. 
Pierce, Christ Fernekes, J. A. Becher, George Dyer, C. D. Nash, J. H. 
Van Dyke, N.J. Emmons, Goldsmith & Co., Smith & Chandler, Chas. 
Munkwitz, Kellogg Sexton, Starkweather & Co., E. Boardman & Son, 
L. F. Hodges, W. S. Candee, Rich & Silber, D. Fishbeck, Julius Na- 
thanson, B. J. Johnson, P. Rooney, C. A. Folsom, Christ Meyer, A. J. 
W.Pierce, Samuel Brown, P. L. Dohmen, S. Bryant, Henry Katz, H. 
L. Eisen & Co., R. L. Potter, Isaac Ellsworth, Zinns, Goetz & Co., A. 
Kirst, T. P. Collingbourne, \Vm. A. Prentiss, Jas. Johnson, M. D., N. 

A. Gray, M. D., Chas. Winterfeldt, J. M. Alcott & Co., Geo. Wright & 
Bro., O. P. Wolcott, M. D., Mueller & Ilhardt, F. Borchert & Son, J. 

B. Oliver, A. V. Bishop, O. D. Bjorkquist, Ed. Aschermann & Co., J. H. 
Rice & Friedmann, B. Leidersdorf & Co., Adolphe Meinecke, Edward 
Sanderson, J. B. Hoeger & Sons, John Shadbolt, A. F. Leopold, John 
Thorscn, Geo. M. Tibbits, Goll & Frank, John M. Crombie, H. Mueller & 
Co., Joseph Carv, Matthews Bros., Carpeles, Heiser& Co., Joseph Phil- 
lips, Henry Brctz, Nathan Brick, S. A. Harrison, Anson Bros., Charles 
Fricke, L. Newbouer & Sons, Max Landaucr, David Vance, Tlios. H. 
Brown, W. A. Collins, F. T. Day, A. T Riddell, Wm. Ahearn, A. H. 
Atkins, Jas. T. Bradford, Markiiam Bros., M. F. Tooker, H. S. Man- 
vilfe, Leo Roth, H. R. Bond, W. G. Lamberton, T. L. Mitchell & Co., 



THE MATTER SETTLED. 32I 

H. B. Pearson, Fred. J. Johnson, W. G. Fitch, E. P. Smith, Geo. W. 
Swift, Chas. F. A. Seefeldt,- Gottlieb Schweitzer, G.J. Hart & Co., A. H 
Woodruff, Chas. E. Laverty, Herman Toser, Dr. W. A. Fricke, F. 
Breinig, M. D., L. R. Roeder, Rundle & Spence, Davidson & Sons, 
and others : ; 

Gentlemen — It would be great hypocrisy for me to pretend not to be 
gratified and flattered by the communication just received from you, signed 
as it is by so many substantial citizens and business men, my neighbors and 
townsmen, asking me to allow my name to be presented to the legislature, 
next winter, among those from whom a senator of the United States is to 
be selected. Since I was retired from the senate by the legislature of 1875, 
I have devoted myself exclusively to the practice of my profession; and my 
engagements are such at present that I can not make acanvass of the state, 
or organize or carry on a campaign to secure my election, without neglect- 
ing the interests of my clients ; and whoever would desert his clients would 
betray his constituents. But I hold it to be as imperatively the duty of a 
citizen to serve in a public office to which he is elected as it is to pay his 
taxes. Therefore, if the legislature shall see fit to elect me to the senate, I 
will accept the trust with gratitude and execute it to the best of my 
ability, advocating and supporting the measures which seem best calculated 
to promote the public good. ■ Truly yours, 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 

The enthusiasm of Carpenter's personal following, which, 
irrespective of party, had always been greater than that of 
any other man in his state, was now unlimited. Neverthe- 
less, they had before them a formidable task. The oppo- 
sition was powerful — to many irresistible. Timothy O. 
Howe, who had served eighteen years in the senate, was 
a candidate for re-election, and was very strong. He had 
not only the support of the federal officials appointed during 
his long service, but that of numerous influential journals and 
of the chairman of the republican state central committee. 
Elisha W. Keyes, of Madison, known as the " Warwick of 
Wisconsin politics," a man of tremendous energy, great 
political resources, splendid courage, and personal acquaint- 
ance with almost every voter in the state, was also a can- 
didate, while Cadwallader C. Washburn had a following 
of some magnitude. Carpenter had been out of the senate 
nearly four years, and was therefore without the support of 



322 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

any official machinery ; he had spent much of his time out of 
the state in the practice of his profession, and upon the sum- 
mit of this bore the heavy burden of all the disasters conse- 
quent upon previous defeat. Nevertheless the announcement 
of his candidacy developed enthusiasm among the masses, \ 
and the eflbrt to again place him in the senate he had so richly 
adorned began in seriousness. 

In less than two weeks after he had consented to be a can- 
didate, the leading republicans of Milwaukee, fearing, per- 
haps, that the combination of circumstances referred to 
would make his election impossible, but knowing that his 
personal popularity would carry him through that strong 
democratic district in which the election of any other repub- 
lican appeared hopeless, united in a telegram asking him to 
consent to the use of his name as a candidate for congress. 
This was the prompt reply: 

Washington, Oct i. 
To Edward Sanderson and others: 

I dislike to deny anything to my friends, but I can not be a candidate for 
tiie house of representatives. In that bear-garden I should be utterly lost. 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 

The campaign having now opened in earnest, the sup- 
porters of the other senatorial candidates began their assaults 
upon Carpenter. Some of them were unfair, and all of them 
industriously bitter. George W. Allen, a wealthy leather 
merchant of Milwaukee, was an embryo candidate for the 
senatorship, and being a leading member of the " Honest 
Money League," made his principal attacks on Carpenter's 
financial record in congress. The Washburn lieutenants made 
steady onslaughts upon his republicanism, while the sup- 
porters of Keyes and Howe were mostly engaged in fighting 
each other. These attacks brought several spirited replies 
from Carpenter. In those days, before the resumption of 
specie payments had been accomplished, while the silver- 
craze was rampant, and the greenback party, with its poison- 
ous but seductive heresy, was making disastrous inroads 



THE MATTER SETTLED. 323 

upon both old parties, to quiver upon the question of finances 
was a more serious matter than can be easily appreciated at 
the present time. That Carpenter was lame in his financial 
statesmanship was the gravest allegation against him. To 
establish the falsity of the indictment, H. M. Kutchin pub- 
lished, late in the campaign, this private letter: 

Washington, Aug. i, 1S78. 

Dear Kutchin: — Many thanks for your kind letter just received. 
You say my enemies are saying that I am not sound on the financial ques- 
tion, and that I am coquetting with democrats and greenbackers ; and you 
say that I ought to deny it. 

To this I reply that I am a republican, and stand fair and square upon 
every plank of the party platform, financial and all. If the party is sound, 
I am. And this you can assert without fear of being confounded by any- 
thing I have ever said or written, or ever shall say or write. I can see no 
reason for saying anything upon the subject over my own signature, as the 
opinion of a private citizen is of no consequence to the public. As I have 
always cordiallyxsupported every principle of the party, never scratched a 
ticket nor bolted a nomination, why should I be required to enter into 
bonds to keep the peace, or make pledges of mv political fidelity.'' Who 
has any reason to doubt it.-" Who pretends to doubt it.'' Certainly none 
but my enemies. All that has been said about a meditated coalition be- 
tween my personal friends and democrats, or soft-money men, is said by 
my enemies, for the purpose of injuring me in the estimation of republi- 
cans; and no matter how peremptorily I might deny it, I could not stop 
their mouths. And, it seems to me, it would be unpardonable vanity for 
me to make any declaration of my faith or denial of these slanders. 
Nevertheless, as I have said, you are at liberty to assert my republicanism 
as broadly as language can do, and I will vindicate the truth of what you 
may say. 

I am thoroughly persuaded that the destinies of this country are safe 
only in republican hands; and that the platform of the party contains the 
only possible solution of the financial problem. Resumption on the ist 
of January next is now fixed by law ; and I believe that the government 
can stand its hand in that endeavor. If, however, it should prove other- 
wise, and the experiment should fail — as I hope and believe it will not, — 
still the republican party can be trusted to deal with any new emergencies 
which may arise, as it has done successfully in the past; and I shall cling 
to it in good hope, no matter what may happen. No country can expect to 
prosper in commerce with the world without a currency of coin, or paper 
equivalent in value to, and readily convertible into, coin; and any experi- 



324 



LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



ment with irredeemable paper would only land us in grief, and we should 
be compelled to retrace our steps, sorrowing, 

I have no anxiety to be elected to the senate; but I am anxious to stand 
fair in the estimation of my political friends; and sliall hereafter, as I have 
heretofore, vote the party ticket, advocate its doctrines, and support its 
measures; and you may say so, without fear of being compelled by my 
future course to recant your assurances. 

Truly yours, Matt. H. Carpenter. 

RESPECTS TO MR. ALLEN. 

Geo. W. Allen came forward and charged that the letter 
had been ante-dated, and proceeded to show that, if it had 
not, it was a false exposition of Carpenter's financial notions. 
Carpenter replied: 

Wm. E. Cramer, Editor Evening- IFisronsin : 

My attention has been called to your paper containing a libel upon me, 
over a fictitious name, and an editorial in which you express a desire to 
hear from me on this p )int. I should take no notice of the libel, but that 
you, who are a gentleman and my friend, call on me to respond. 

I answer you, the charge that my letter to Mr. Kutchin was ante-dated is 
utterly false; and any one who makes the charge is either strangely mis- 
led, or intentionally untruthful. 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 

p. S. — Since writing the above, I have seen your paper saying that 
George W Allen is the author of this libel. Responsibility having been 
fixed upon him, I may be justified in not only denying his charge, but dis- 
proring the pretended statement of facts by which he seeks to support his 
charge. 

1. He says: "All last summer and fall, the people of this state were 
anxious to know Mr. Carpenter's position^ and could not get it" by which, I 
suppose, he means to say, ascertain my opinions, instead of could not get 
my position. 

I reply, Mr. Kutchin is the only man, so far as I remember, who wrote 
me on the subject, and the letter in question was written in reply to him. 

Mr. Allen published a letter last summer, in which he refused to be a 
senator; and then, as though the hearts of the people were not sufficiently 
wounded by the announcement, proceeded to torture them further by lay- 
ing down his platform to show what an excellent senator he would make 
if he would but consent to accept the place. I did not feel called upon to 
follow this example, because I did not suppose the people cared about the 
views of any private individual upon any public question ; and sensible 



RESPECTS TO MR. ALLEN. 325 

men might have made as much fun over my doing so as they did over his 
performance. 

2. He says, speaking of my letter, that there was full authority to use it. 
If he means authority to publish the letter, the statement is untrue, as the 
letter itself shows. 

3. Again Mr. Allen says: "Take the further fact that among his _/??■« 
years in the senate, he voted for all inflation bills and all inflation amend- 
ments, from the least to the most, * * * and when he returned here a 
few days before the election, and made a few brief speeches in this city, he 
avoided all reference to finance until he -was questioned on the finance mat- 
ter; and then skillfully avoided committing himself." 

This is a tissue of falsehoods in letter and in spirit. 

(A) I never voted in the six (instead of five) years I was in the senate 
in favor of any financial measure which I believed would inflate the cur- 
rency ; nor, as I believe, otherwise than with the majority of republican 
senators upon any financial measure save in one instance. I voted against 
one bill which declared that it was the intention of congress in issuing 
government bonds to pay them in coin; and I so voted, as my remarks in 
the senate at that time will show — eleven days after I took my seat in the 
senate, — because I thought there was no question that, under the acts author- 
izing the issue of bonds, they were payable in coin; but that the bill under 
consideration would do more harm than good; because, if we could then, 
years after the bonds had been on the market, declare what had been the 
intention of congress in issuing the bonds, the democrats, if they should 
ever get into power, could repeal our act and declare exactly the reverse ; 
while the acts under which the bonds were issued formed a part of tlje 
bonds and could not be changed by subsequent legislation. I agreed with 
the republican senators that the bonds must be paid in coin ; but, as a law- 
yer, differed from them as to the effects of the then pending bill. 

Mr. Allen, in his second letter, further charges: "For the six years Mr, 
Carpenter was in the senate he made no speech, he uttered no word, and 
he gave no vote except in favor of inflation, against resumption and a return 
to a redeemable paper currency." 

The reckless character of Mr. Allen's assertions, and the utter untruth 
of his charges, may well be tested upon this point. He says that during 
my whole term in the senate / voted against resumption and a return to a 
redeemable paper currency. Let us see how truthful he is : 

The bill providing for " resumption and a return to a redeemable paper 
currency," or in other words, specie payments, was passed in the senate 
December 22, 1S75. Whoever will turn to the Congressional Record, vol. 
3, part I, pp. 188- 20S, will find that I voted against every amendment of- 
fered to the bill, and voted for the bill on its final passage. 

If aoy one after this charge, in the very face of the truth and the record, 



326 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

can place any confidence in Mr. Allen's charges, I commend him for his 
credulity, but must question his discrimination. 

(B) On the 6th of Aujjust, only five days after my letter to Mr. Kutchin, 
I authorized the publication in the Chicago Times of an interview 1 of the 
Washington correspondent of that paper with me, in which I declared I 
was in full fellowship with the republican party — its doctrines and meas- 
ures. When I said ///<//, I meant, as I supposed every one would under- 
stand, that I was in f.ivor of the principles and measures of the republican 
party. I did not proceed to enumerate those measures, but everybody well 
knew that the hard-money theory was then one of the cardinal principles 
of the republican party. 

Shortly afterwards, in reply to unfriendly criticism in the Chicago 
Tribune, I published a letter defying it to point to a single act or word of 
mine disloyal to the republican party since I joined it. 

Indeed, I have never understood that my republicanism was really 
doubted; but that the charge that I was not a republican was deemed by 
other candidates essential to their success. My I'riends in Milwaukee did 
not question my political integrity, or they would not have requested me to 
become the republican candidate tor congress as they did by a telegram * 
dated October i, 1878, long before the publication of the letter to Mr. 
Kntchin. 

(C) Just before the November election, I came home and entered into 
the canvass in Milwaukee, and discussed the financial question in every 
speech I made; and declared everywhere for honest money and resumption 
of specie payments. Still Mr. Allen falsely declares I avoided all reference 
to finance until I was questioned upon the subject; and that, after being 
questioned, I skillfully avoided committing myself. A greater misstate- 
ment never crept into print In \.\\e first speech I made — though no one 
put a question to me, — I advocated the hard-money theory as clearly and 
unequivocally as my command of language enabled me to do. In a subse- 
quent meeting in the Third ward, where I went to speak for five minutes, 
having another appointment for the same evening, where I was expected 
to make a longer speech, I touched upon the financial question very plainly 

1 See page 316. 

illoN. Matt. H. Carpenter, Washington, D. C. : 

Your friends in this city ask you to place yourself in their hands for 

nomination for member of congress in this district * * * We ask you 

to make this sacrifice for the benefit of the party. 

Edward Sanderson, C. M. Sanger, Henry Fink, 

I. W. Van Schaick, John Thorsen, I. M. Bean, 

D. Vance, N. A. Gray, Geo. Paschen, 

Edwin Hyde, Lem. Ellsworth, H. Ludington, 

James Johnson, William Kennedy, and many others. 



RESPECTS TO MR. ALLEN. 327 

but very briefly; as I was concluding, Dr. Johnson requested me to speak 
more fully upon the financial question. I then continued upon that subject 
at some length; not going into forty pages of figures and statistics to empty 
benches^ as Mr. Allen would have done — for it is well known that during 
the last campaign Mr. Allen made the largest figures to the smallest assem- 
blies of any man who ever stumped Wisconsin, — but dealing with the 
subject with perfect plainness. At my conclusion, before leaving the 
stand, I asked Dr. Johnson, who is a hard-money republican, if he was 
satisfied ; and, in full hearing of the meeting, he declared he was. 

At another meeting I was interrupted by a gentleman who was in favor 
of what is called soft money; not to call me out, but in opposition to what 
I had said. I answered all his questions and continued advocating the hard- 
money theory. But Dr. Johnson was the only man who interrupted me 
to call me out ; and that was, as I have said, after I had in one or more 
speeches, certainly one speech, plainly advocated the hard-money theory. 

4. Again, Mr. Allen says: "He only made two declarations — one, that 
when a bond was drawn payable in gold it should be payable in gold. Who 
disputed this .'' Second, that he stood squarely upon the republican platform — 
which platform or what platform he avoided saying. The last platform 
made by the republican party of this state was in the convention of 1877, 
and it was more soft than hard," etc., and that no honest-money republican 
ever stood upon it. 

This charge is against the republican party, not me, as I did not draw that 
platform, nor was I consulted about it. The platform to which I referred 
in my speeches was the platform adopted at the last presidential conven- 
tion. 

But it is false that I only declared myselt a republican standing on its 
platform. I declared myself in favor 01 honest money, and my belief that 
upon no other basis could the permanent prosperity ot any nation rest. 

5. Mr. Allen declares that The Common-wealth did not say a word, while 
the people were anxious, etc. I think Mr. Allen is mistaken in this. My 
recollection is that within a few days after my letter of August ist to Mr. 
Kutchin, The Commonzvealth did declare that I was a staunch republican 
and sound on the financial question; and, unless I am greatly mistaken, it 
had done so even before that. Mr. Kutchin did not write me because he 
entertained any doubt as to my status, but he thought I ought to publish 
some statement denying the charge which my enemies were making on the 
subject; and I did not think so, because I did not see, as I wrote to him, 
why, after my past political record, anybody, unless an enemy, would re- 
quire me to enter into bonds to keep the peace. Mr. Allen says, *'■ how easy 
it was for him to have said that he was in favor of an honest redeemable 
money, and in Javor of the present resumption law. That would have cov- 
ered it all." 

In point of fact, I did declare over and again that I was in favor of hon- 



328 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

est redeemable money ; and I have shown / voted for " the present resump- 
tion law." 

I have shown that Mr. Allen is guilty of having published a libel upon a 
neighbor, and attempting to support it by a pretended statement of facts 
equally false. I will leave him to such repose as a libeler can expect 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 

ON THE STUMP. 

As the day of election drew near, Carpenter returned to 
Wisconsin and delivered a number of campaign addresses. 
He gave his attention particularly to Milwaukee, speaking in 
every ward of the city. He was received with enthusiasm 
and greeted by swarms of hearers. In the populous Third 
ward, in which the voters are mostly Irish and democrats, 
he was met with demonstrations that were litde short of 
terrific. A newspaper description of the great meeting 
said: " Matt. II. Carpenter ascended the rostrum in the midst 
of regular Indian yells." His influence in Milwaukee was 
marked. Although a democratic stronghold, the republicans 
elected ten of its fourteen members of the legislature. These 
ten at once issued a brief card to the members-elect through- 
out the state, declaring their intention to support Carpenter 
and asking co-operation. 

When the election returns had been fully straightened, it 
appeared that eighty-eight republicans had been chosen, of 
whom twenty-five were outspoken for Carpenter. 

THE EVE OF BATTLE. 

The legislature convened on Wednesday, January 9, 1879, 
with the hotels, boarding-houses and many private residences 
crowded with lobbyists. Hundreds of influential men from 
Milwaukee, Rock, Fond du Lac and other populous counties 
were present in the interest of Carpenter, who was absent 
attending to important law cases in New York and Wash- 
'ington. The rumors in circulation that the Keyes and Howe 
forces would in some manner unite, caused the supporters of 
Carpenter no small amount of disquietude, and on the fol- 



THE EVE OF BATTLE. 329 

lowing Monday evening, in response to urgent telegrams, he 
appeared on the scene m frofria -persotia, when hope and en- 
thusiasm went up with a bound. 

The republican caucus was held on the evening of January 
17th. Senator Hamilton Richardson, of Rock county, pre- 
sented Carpenter, seconded by Assemblyman E. B. Simpson, 
of Milwaukee. The first formal ballot brought this result: 
E. W. Keyes twenty-eight; T. O. Howe twenty-five ; Matt. 
H. Carpenter twenty-four; Philetus Sawyer five; Horace 
Rublee five; John H. Tweedy one; total eighty-eight. On 
the next ballot Carpenter received twenty-six votes — the 
full number of his first-choice supporters. A dozen ballots 
were taken before adjournment without any material change. 
On the following day fifteen ballots were recorded, and when 
adjournment for Sunday took place late on Saturday evening, 
the number of ballotings had reached forty-nine, the last 
standing, Carpenter twenty-eight; Keyes thirty-one; Howe 
twenty-six. Before dispersing to their homes for Sunday, 
Carpenter's supporters entered into a pact declaring they 
would " vote for no man but Matt." for senator.^ 

On Monday the caucus re-assembled, and before adjourn- 
ment the number of ballotings reached seventy-nine, the 
vote for Carpenter fluctuating between twenty-six and twenty- 

IThis letter from one of the "solid twenty-five" shows how it was done: 

Fond du Lac, Wis., June 23, 1883. 

There was no written compact or document by which Matt.'s supporters 
bound themselves. The plan was simply this: After each session of the 
republican legislative caucus we held a Carpenter caucus. Before adjourn- 
ing we passed a resolution by a rising vote, unanimously, that we would 
not waver or change until the next meeting of the Carpenter caucus. After 
what proved to be our last " Carpenter" caucus (the day before his nomi- 
nation), it was quietly determined by the leading spirits of the Carpenter 
column to call no more caucuses, and let the last one stand as adjourned 
sine die, thus leaving the pledge per,etual. This arrangement was made 
on account of one of the members objecting to an unlimited pledge. The 
scheme for a perpetual pledge came from Coleman, Sanderson and Matt.'s 
coterie of friends outside. The modification to a daily pledge was at my 
suggestion. The adjournment sine die was originated by Senator Andrews, 
the chairman of our caucus. S. 



330 LIFE OF CARPENTER. * 

nine. When the caucus met next day the ballotings con- 
tinued without change until the ninetieth, when the announce- 
ment of thirty-five for Carpenter produced a decided ripple 
of excitement. The five subsequent trials bore a similar 
result. Then it became apparent to the cohorts of Howe 
and Keyes that the tide had at last turned away from them, 
and that unless an adjournment could be had, Carpenter 
would soon secure a majority. They therefore united and 
adjourned until the succeeding morning. The three contend- 
ing factions then held secret consultations, when Keyes de- 
cided to withdraw. This news spread like a prairie fire and 
was received everywhere with rejoicing. The ceaseless 
struggling and intense excitement of the preceding fortnight 
had so completely exhausted everybody that a settlement 
of any kind would have been received with feelings of relief 
if not of pleasure. 

VICTORY. 

The break-up, everybody knew, meant the election of 
Carpenter, and until far after midnight he stood in his apart- 
ments receiving the congratulations of his friends and admir- 
ers. The campaign had been a gallant one, and conducted 
with consummate shrewdness. Carpenter was everywhere 
present, never mentioning the senatorship, but winning friends 
by that magical fascination he exerted over all who came in 
contact with him. No unfriendly feeling was engendered 
by his supporters among opponents, but cordial, courteous 
treatment was extended to all, thus making friends of them, 
while the " solid twenty-five " settled down complacently 
but doggedly to " stand by Matt, to the last." 

On the morning of January 23d, at nine o'clock, the caucus 
convened for the last time. Senator Geo. B. Burrows in a 
spirited speech for his leader, withdrew the name of E. W. 
Keyes, and, in accordance with instructions from Keyes, 
moved that Carpenter be nominated b}' acclamation. Sen- 
ator D. M. Kelly then formally announced the withdrawal of 



THE PEOPLE REJOICE. 33 1 

T. O. Howe, whereupon, in the midst of vociferous huzzas, 
upon the motion of Burrows, Carpenter was nominated 
without a dissenting vote. 

At twelve o'clock of the same day the joint convention of 
the two houses met, as required by the federal statutes, and 
proceeded to vote for a person to succeed Mr. Howe in the 
United States senate six j^ears, from March 4, 1879. T'he 
ballot resulted in eighty-four • for Carpenter, twenty-eight for 
Chief Justice Edward G. Ryan, his old-time partner, and 
thirteen for Gabriel Bouck. The assembly chamber was 
crowded to its utmost when the result was announced. The 
multitude had gathered expecting a speech from the success- 
ful candidate. Within a few moments after the formalities 
had been finished, the committee appointed by the president 
of the senate for that purpose appeared in escort of Carpen- 
ter. When the tumult had subsided, half-choked by emo- 
tion, he made a brief speech, ending thus: 

My heart is full of gratitude to the legislature of Wisconsin for this 
honor. Following, as it does, upon some unfortunate circumstances in my 
past history, I appreciate it all the more, and I thank you all the more sin- 
cerely. And in accepting this trust from the legislature of Wisconsin, I 
can truthfully say I shall be willing to lay it down at any time when the 
legislature of Wisconsin say I have forfeited or disregarded it 

THE PEOPLE REJOICE. 

The news of Carpenter's election w^as received with 
demonstrations of satisfaction in every city, hamlet and com- 
munity in the commonwealth, and met with approbation 
throughout the Union, several state legislatures — an extra- 
ordinary proceeding — adopting resolutions congratulating 
Wisconsin on her choice. Telegrams of congratulation 
poured in from Washington, New York and almost every 
city of note in the republic. Among them, and which moved 
him more deeply than all others, was one from his son Paul, 
then aged ten years, in these words: '■'■Dear, splendid Papa: 
Mamma and I send love and congatulations." 

1 Four republicans were unavoidably absent. 



332 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

On the day followincr his election Carpenter proceeded 
homeward by a special train, his friends and supporters 
crowding the coaches. At Milwaukee a public meeting had 
already been held, and numerous committees of the foremost 
citizens formed for the purpose of carrying out an elaborate 
programme of reception. Ex-Governor Harrison Luding- 
ton was chosen president, and sub-committees of distin- 
guished men were appointed for each of the several wards 
of the city, the chamber of commerce and other associations. 
These individuals united in an eloquent telegram of congrat- 
ulation, and informed Carpenter that he would find a mass- 
meeting of his friends in the Academy of Music on the 
succeeding evening. 

The magnificent demonstration that greeted him on arriving 
in Milwaukee was well worth the efforts of a life-time. A 
multitude had assembled at the depot. As he issued from 
the car, cheer upon cheer rent the air. The band struck up, 
" See, the Conquering Hero Comes," and Carpenter literally 
waded through the crowd, shaking hands right and left, to 
the vehicle containing his wife and children. He was given 
a seat in an elegant sleigh drawn by four white chargers, 
preceded by the officers of the day, drawn by a team of 
six matched horses. A long procession of vehicles and peo- 
ple on foot formed and marched to the chamber of com- 
merce. All the great business blocks, banks and the 
shipping in the harbor were decorated with flags, and the 
streets were lined with shouting multitudes. Having arrived 
at the chamber, President Charles Ray welcomed the hero 
of the occasion, who, with tears of gratitude in his eyes, 
responded: 

There are times when a man is not in condition to spe.ik. My heart is 
now too full of gratitude to the people of Milwaukee to permit me to ex- 
press the sentiments I feel. In all the years I have lived here I have re- 
ceived notliing but kindness. My mistakes have all been forgiven and the 
people of Milwaukee tiave stood by me like friends. I go now to represent 
you to the host of my ability in the senate of the United States. * » * 
Having reached specie resumption we have but one important mission 



WELCOMED BACK TO WASHINGTON. 333 

pressing us. We must heal our sectional differences. The states of the 
south are expected to carry out all the amendments to the constitution. 
We can not throw away the fruits of our fearful war. All men, without re- 
gard to color, condition or nationality, should be equal and protected before 
the law, and must have the right of suffrage. That means something more 
than putting a ballot into a box — that ballot must be counted. Congress 
has the power, and it is a duty, to legislate so as to protect every citizen in 
the south in the full and free exercise of his constitutional rights, and to 
protect every northern man who goes south in the interest of business or in 
the pursuit of liealih. * * * God has laid upon this people great re- 
sponsibilities and the power to meet them, but they will never be fully met 
until every colored man is as free as any white man. In performing this 
duty I have nothing to fear. A greater nation than this does not exist. 
We have but to secure equal rights to all men to be what God intended — 
to be a leader and a sliedder of light for all the nations of the earth. 

This brief speech was greeted, sentence by sentence, with 
the loudest applause. Three rousing cheers were given for the 
" solid twenty-five, the old guard — that may die but never 
surrenders." Carpenter was then escorted home by the band 
and a large number of citizens. In the evening the regular 
mass-meeting for congratulation was held in the Academy of 
Music. It was a perfect crush, at which General Harrison 
C. Hobart gave voice to the city's welcome. Carpenter, 'ii 
response, delivered a popular rather than an argumentative 
or profound speech, occupying about an hour. The crowds 
that came out on this occasion did not constitute his fair- 
weather friends, for they were all present to extend a royal 
welcome when, four years before, he returned in a winter 
hurricane, cloaked with the bitterness and desolation of defeat. 

WELCOMED BACK TO WASHINGTON. 

After a very brief period of rest. Carpenter proceeded to 
Washington, where he arrived on Thursday, January 30th. 
There the proceedings for extending a welcome were hardly 
less elaborate and spirited than they had been at Milwaukee. 
A committee of distinguished persons, according to arrange- 
ments previously perfected, waited on him at the depot and 
escorted him to Willard's Hotel. There he found, to his 



334 



LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



astonishment, the street, brilliant with pyrotechnics and cal- 
cium lights, entirely blockaded with an enthusiastic assem- 
blage. As he drew up to the hotel, loud huzzas and the 
firing of cannon, followed by the strains of "Hail to the 
Chief " by the Marine band, greeted him like the shouts of a 
victorious army. The addresses of welcome were delivered 
by General Ilalbert E. Paine and Public Printer A. M. 
Clapp. Carpenter replied: 

I have no language in which to thank you for this reception and cordial 
greeting back to Washington. I know, however, that it is not a personal 
tribute to me. You come here to testify your sympathy for and firm sup- 
port of those principles which you believe, and which I will support with 
my voice and vote to the utmost of my ability. We are all republicans — 
republicans, because we believe the destiny of this country rests in the 
keeping of that party. My own election in Wisconsin was no tribute to 
my personal qualities. Still less was it a reflection on the popularity of 
him whom I was elected to succeed. It was because four 3'ears ago there 
had been committed a wrong, not a wrong against me, but a wrong done 
to the organization of the republican party; for, unless our party will stand 
by its banner, and sustain its nominees, there is an end of party, and the 
end of our party would be the end of the greatest and brightest hopes this 
country enjoys to-day. 

At the conclusion of the ceremonies, he retired to the 
parlors of the hotel, where, surrounded by a profusion of 
flowers, he stood for an hour or more "shaking hands like a 
President." 

GENUINE CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 

It will be recollected that Carpenter characterized the 
"civil service reform" as formulated by Joseph Medill and 
others, concocted and tested during President Grant's last 
term, as " a humbug," and " a gilt-edge vagary." He voted 
and spoke against the measure, predicting it would prove a 
failure. The prediction was fully verified. Although some 
severe criticisms arose against him for this position, time 
proved not only that his views of the matter were correct 
when it came to actual practice, but that he was, in fact, the 



GENUINE CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 335 

best civil service reformer of them all. Before leaving for 
Washington, he wrote the following card: 

Milwaukee, Wis., Jan. 25, 1879. 
To the Editor of the Sentinel: 

I have received so many hundreds of letters of congratulation within the 
last three days that it is impossible for me to answer them. Therefore, allow 
me to say through your columns to all my friends, that I thank them for their 
sympathy and friendship; and it will be my chief ambition to prove myself 
worthy of such friends. 

I infer from letters I have received there is a wide-spread expectation 
that I will make war upon federal office-holders appointed on the recom- 
mendation of Senator Howe. I wish to correct this impression at the 
threshold. Whatever influence over appointments is given to a United 
States senator is intended to be exercised for the benefit of the public 
service, and not for his personal advantage. The tenure of office should not 
depend upon the personal relations between the appointing and advising 
power and the official, but upon the efficiency with which he meets the 
requirements of the service. No office-holder appointed at the instance of 
Senator Howe need fear anything from me as long as he discharges the 
duties of his position to the satisfaction of the people. 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 

The usual custom of politicians is to promulgate pledges 
of such sort while they are desiring and seeking an election to 
office, not after they have secured it. But this promise, made 
when there was no necessity for it, except to set forth his 
theory of a genuine civil service reform, was sacredly kept 
until death. 



33^ LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 

To the general public the most conspicuous feature of 
Carpenter's whole life is his career in the senate of the 
United States, although the sum of all that he did in that body 
did not equal his matchless efforts in behalf of the Union 
during the Rebellion nor those unrivaled forensic arguments 
which alone, Justice Bradley has said, " should make him im- 
mortal." This is because all his sayings and doings in the 
senate were recorded in the Congressional Record and fully 
reported and discussed in the daily newspapers, thus becom- 
ing familiar to the people. 

Carpenter was sworn in at noon, March 4, 1869, and chose 
seat forty-two in the senate chamber, on the Vice-President's 
left. He had on his right Reuben E. Fenton, of New York, 
and on his left Abijah Gilbert, of Florida. Nineteen other 
senator." ^lect were sworn at that time, among whom were 
Thomas F. Bayard, Zachariah Chandler, George F. Ed- 
munds, Hannibal Hamlin, Carl Schurz, Allen G. Thurman, 
Charles Sumner, William Sprague, Alexander Ramsey and 
Reuben E. Fenton. When, upon the motion of Senator 
Anthony, of Rhode Island, the standing committees were 
formed, Carpenter appeared in those on judiciary, on patents, 
and on revision of the laws of the United States — all impor- 
tant. His companions were such men as Conkling, Thur- 
man, Bayard, Ferry, Edmunds, Sumner and Trumbull. 

MAIDEN EFFORTS. 

On the loth day of March, Carpenter, by request, arose and 
introduced his first bill — " No. 96, S. A bill to provide for 
holding the courts of the United States in case of the sick- 
ness or other disability of the judges of the district courts." 
On the same day he introduced his first resolution — "S. R. 



HIS FIRST SPEECH. 337 

No. 15. A joint resolution giving construction to the acts of 
congress granting lands to the state of Wisconsin to aid in 
building a railroad." 

HIS FIRST SPEECH 

His first speech was one of five minutes, explaining why 
he should vote ajrainst the measure entitled " a bill to 
strengthen the public credit." This act, which became a law 
March 18, 1869, declared that "the faith of the United States 
is solemnly pledged to the payment in coin or its equivalent 
of all the obligations of the United States not bearing inter- 
est, known as United States notes, and of all the interest- 
bearing obligations of the United States, except in cases 
where the law authorizing the issue of any such obligation 
has expressly provided that the same may be paid in lawful 
money or other currency than gold and silver." Carpenter 
regarded the measure as a superfluity, if not an exhibition 
of weakness. He said: 

In the first place I am unwilling to admit that there has ever been a 
doubt as to this government discharging its just obligations, unwilling to 
admit or seem to admit that it is necessary for congress, by solemn act, to 
declare that the people of the United States are honest. I believe that by 
a fair construction of the acts under which these bonds were issued, read 
in the light of the circumstances attending the negotiation and sale of the 
bonds, the public taith of the government is as firmly pledged as it ever 
can be to the payment of these bonds in coin. The passage of this act 
may provoke a future congress tO' attempt its repeal, and such repeal, 
merely leaving the law as to the bonds where it stands at present, would 
harm our credit more than the passage of this bill would help it. Again, 
if we resume specie payments before the maturity of these bonds, as I trust 
we shall, the difiiculty settles itself. 

His first speech of any considerable length was delivered 
March 17th, on B. F. Butler's bill to repeal the tenure-of- 
ofiice act, a law enacted for the purpose of preventing 
Andrew Johnson, after he became President by the death of 
Lincoln, from removing all the republican federal officials for 
political reasons alone, and appointing in their stead, during a 
recess of the senate, persons of his own political belief. He 



338 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

opposed the repeal of the act though it was simply a law de- 
claring the President should not disobey the constitution; 
but other senators voted against him because, as he said, " an 
army of hungr)-- office-seekers were laying siege to Wash- 
ington," and they hoped by repealing the act to get a large 1 
share of this army into comfortable berths during a recess of > 
the senate through the new President, Grant. His position 
was so manly and his argument so clear that the speech at- 
tracted considerable attention, though contrary to the wishes 
of President Grant and his cabinet. The act was not fully 
repealed. 

A SPECIAL SESSION 

During the special session called by President Grant to 
convene April 12, 1869, Carpenter introduced a resolution 
calling on the various departments for information as to the 
number, age, compensation, date of appointment and recom- 
mendation of the emplo^-es thereof. In support of this he 
said that congress should have some knowledge about the 
forty-five thousand clerks employed in the various depart- 
ments, as he believed that if the number were reduced fifty 
per cent., and the work and the pay increased, public busi- 
ness would be expedited and public expense reduced. He 
also said, " men are charged to Wisconsin in the official reg- 
isters who never resided in the state, so I have an object in 
offering this resolution beyond the mere curiosity of knowing 
how many employes there are in the departments and who 
secured their appointment." In answer to a question upon the 
matter. Carpenter said: 

In moving the resolution at the time it was ofTercd I had a double object 
in view. One looked partially to the subject of patronage and its distribu- 
tion among the states; and I suggest that that is not a totally luiimportant 
matter. These clerical appointments are of a nature the duties of which 
•may be performed by a great many persons in all the states who have been 
parlially disabled from performing serious and laborious toil in the late war. 
We have in Wisconsin, in Illinois, in every western state, our full quota of 
persons who liajve been disabled, and so far disabled that they are incom- 



SO-CALLED LOYAL CLAIMANTS. 339 

petent for actual business or labor, but nevertheless could perform many of 
the clerical duties which are required in these departments. It is therefore 
no more than just and fair that this patronage should be distributed as 
equally as may be between the several states. 

I entirely dissent from the vi^ws of my friend from Nevada in regard to 
this matter. He says that we had better have no appointments from the 
states, and allow the departments to be filled altogether from the District of 
Columbia, because when a man has been here four years in one of these 
positions he is absolutely ruined 'and disqualified to do anything else. Sir, 
when a man has lived so long in Washington that he can not do anything 
else but perform his duties at a desk in a department, he is no longer fit to 
do that. The argument of the senator from Nevada would apply just as 
strongly to congress as to the departments. He might say with equal force 
that there never should be a change in the house or the senate, because 
when a man had been here four years or six years he was out of business 
elsewhere, and might just as well be ruined the rest of his life as to spoil a 
fresh man. 

Nearly all of the old senators opposed the resolution, for 
the reason that it was liable to furnish altogether too much 
information in which they were interested, but Carpenter 
carried it through nevertheless. 

SO-CALLED LOYAL CLAIMANTS. 

A resolution was introduced in the house providing for the 
payment of vessels owned in the loyal states but seized or 
destroyed during the war while engaged in commerce in the 
disloyal states. It passed the house, and seemed likely to 
pass the senate also, when Carpenter, as the inimitable Sena- 
tor Nye observed, "rose and gave it a very black eye," 
saying: 

It is impossible to discuss any question which grows out of the late war 
•without meeting in the face this fundamental question : What was the legal 
character and nature of that war.' If it was a mere insurrection of individ- 
uals, then we could pursue them only in the forms of civil remedy ; we 
could arrest no man without affidavit; we could search no man's house 
without a warrant; we could hang no man until he had been convicted ; we 
could shoot no man except a deserter from the army. If, on the contrary, 
the state of things was public war, then the government had belligerent 
rights toward that country and toward all its people and toward all its 
property. 



340 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

This question came before the several departments of the government in 
the early years of the war, and by every department it was determined to 
be a public war, and the government was asserted to have the rights of a 
belligerent toward that people and all their possessions. This was clearly 
decided by the supreme court in the prize case at the December term, 1862, 
if I remember right. There it was held that the war had assumed such 
proportions as to make it a geographical and territorial war, and that every 
man in the state of Virginia, for instance, no matter whether loyal or dis- 
loyal in sentiment, was a public enemy of the United States. If that be 
the sound theory of the subject, then every man, woman and child in that 
state, and every piece of property, real or personal, within it, was at the 
mercv of the government in the exercise of its war powers; and if we 
took horses and mules, if we took corn and beans and pork, if we took any- 
thing which should supply our wants or replenish our treasury, we did 
what we had a right to do, and doing it gives no foundation for a claim 
against the treasury. 

Believing this to be the true theory of the subject, and believing that the 
government can maintain itself before the people and the world upon no 
other theory, I shall of course vote against every proposition to pay any 
man for anything taken by military orders in the rebellious districts. 

Carpenter's further theory was, that if the vessels were in 
the rebeUious districts, they were there for the purpose of 
profiting out of the Rebellion, and their owners, therefore, 
could not be loyal in spirit, though they might, as was 
alleged, live in the loyal states. 

RECONSTRUCTING GEORGIA. 

In the second session of the forty-first congress, which 
convened December 6, 1869, and which was long and stormy, 
Carpenter took a leading part in the debates, and became a 
conspicuous and popular figure before the country. 

At the opening of the session he introduced a bill increas- 
ing the salary of the chief justice of the supreme court to 
$12,000, and of the associate justices to $10,000 each per 
annum. After being tumbled about for several months the 
measure was indefinitely postponed, although all the leading 
lawyers in the country favored its passage. On the same 
day Senator Morton presented a bill " to promote the recon- 
struction of Georgia." Owing to the great attention which 



RECONSTRUCTING GEORGIA. 34I 

he had given to the vital question of reconstruction, Carpen- 
ter was requested by the judiciary committee to draft a sub- 
stitute for Morton's bill, which, after a lengthy and able 
debate, was finall}'- passed. It provided that the governor of 
Georgia should summon the legislature elected June 25, 1868; 
that the members so elected should take either the iron-clad 
oath or the one taken by those whose disabilities had been 
removed by section three of the fourteenth amendment to 
the constitution; that no member should be refused a seat 
because of color; that any person attempting by force ' or 
otherwise to prevent any person so elected from taking the 
oath or performing any of the duties of his ofhce, should be 
punished by imprisonment not less than two nor more than 
ten years, and that such legislature so convened should pro- 
ceed to reorganization and the transaction of business. Mor- 
ton offered an amendment declaring " That the legislature 
shall be provisional only, and until after it has ratified the 
fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution of the 
United States, and senators and representatives in congress 
from the state of Georgia have been admitted to their seats." 
In opposing this amendment Carpenter said he thought it 
was an unnecessary measure, as every one knew Georgia 
understood the terms on which states were to be admitted. 
He further argued: 

I think the amendment is pernicious in this respect; it will be claimed 
hereafter, and will be the subject of much discussion, that these southern 
states have not voluntarily ratified that amendment of the constitution. I 
do not say that that claim is well founded; I do not believe it is; but we 
shall hear it, and I am opposed to any amendment of this bill which shall lead 
manifestly to the discussion of these troublesome subjects hereafter. They 
will say that they were held by military power; they will say that congress 
dictated to them the terms upon which they were to come into tlie Union; 
that they were practically and substantially in duress, and are not bound by 
the vote of adoption they have passed. Now, I am simply objecting to this 
because I am opposed to making up a bill of exceptions upon which some 
future Jeff. Davis shall move for a new trial. 

1 A few months before, the colored members of the Georgia legislature 
had been forcibly compelled to abandon their seats. 



342 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

I have no objection to the doctrine of the amendment. I will never vote 
in my place to admit that state until she does ratify the fifteenth amendment, 
unless I experience some unexpected change of mind or heart; but I do 
not see the necessity of our announcing in advance what we will or will 
not do. 

Morton's amendment was adopted and the bill was passed, 
Carpenter voting aye. He predicted, however, that in the 
lawless and disordered state in which Georgia then was, she 
would not conform to the requirements of the acts of recon- 
struction and would not come properly into the Union. This 
prediction was verified, and when, in February, 1870, B. F. 
Butler, in the house, presented a bill for the admission of 
Georgia, all the old arguments, animosities and objections 
were revamped and rehashed. In the exceedingly lengthy 
debate which this bill precipitated. Carpenter bore a prom- 
inent, able part. The bill provided the conditions upon which 
Georgia should be admitted, to which, all and singular, Car- 
penter objected, arguing that a state was either fit to be ad- 
mitted unconditionally into the Union or not at all. Mr. 
Drake, of Missouri, offered an amendment providing for call- 
ing the militia into Georgia upon the representation of the 
legislature or the governor, for the purpose of suppressing 
ku klux klans and other disturbing or murderous organiza- 
tions, when Carpenter pointed out how idle such a law would 
be in a state where the legislature and officers were more 
than likely to be members of those organizations, in which 
case no request would ever be forthcoming. He argued that 
some discretionary power should be invested in the President 
to take steps to suppress lawlessness and murder in the south. 

A CLASH WITH SUMNER. 

It was during this debate that Carpenter, in applying the 
lash to Charles Sumner for favoring the various " funda- 
mental conditions " upon which it was proposed to admit 
Georgia, declared that the controversy then in progress 
would not soon pass from memory, as " all the loose thought 
and wild talk inspired by a civil war, confined hitherto to 



A CLASH WITH SUMNER. 343 

newspaper editorials and inflammatory speeches on the 
stump, at length have found utterance in this high place; all 
this extravagance and absolute wildness are sanctioned, sanc- 
tified and canonized by the indorsement of the senator from 
Massachusetts." He also declared that whenever in his 
course the senator from Massachusetts met the circumvallat- 
ing limits of the constitution, he mounted the declaration of 
independence and rode over the obstruction on some of " the 
glittering generalities of that revolutionary pronunciamento," 
an expression that Sumner caught up to arouse the ire and 
secure the sympathy of the prudes of the republic. 

One of the provisions, or "fundamental conditions," upon 
which it was proposed to admit Georgia was that her con- 
stitution should " never be so amended or changed as to de- 
prive any citizen or class of citizens of the right to vote." 
This Carpenter ridiculed as childish, as the constitution of 
the United States (guarantied that right to the citizens of all 
states, and the provisions of no state constitution could strike 
it down or annul it. He declared 

When a bill comes before congress thus clogged with limitations and con- 
ditions, it is evident there is some little question about the propriety of ad- 
mitting Georgia at this time. * * * Is it safe, is it prudent, to pass the 
bill with this amendment and admit the state into the Union? Look at the 
report of General Terry, listen to the testimony of our friends from 
Georgia, consider the lawlessness that prevails there, and then answer on 
your consciences whether that community be fit to be received into full 
communion as a state of the Union. I can not think so. * * * * * 
The more I reflect upon this subject the more I think it would be little less 
than madness to admit this state; and as we are all agreed that it is not 
safe to do so, why can we not do one logical thing in this business of recon- 
struction, namely, postpone this bill indefinitely, and remand this com- 
munity either to military supervision under the reconstruction acts, or do 
what, if I could have my way, I would have done with all the states — put 
her under a civil territorial form of government, subject at all times to the 
revising and supervising power of congress, until the elements lashed into 
fury by the war shall have subsided, order be restored and peace estab- 
lished in that distracted community. In that way we can perform all the 
duties of the government, restrain crime and promote the welfare of that 
people. 



344 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Some days after this speech Sumner made his descent 
upon Carpenter for referring to the dechiration of independ- 
ence as the " ghttering generalities of a revolutionary pro- 
nunciamento," as well as for his constitutional objections to 
" admitting Georgia, bound and gagged, half-way into the 
Union." He was very earnest if not angry in his manner, 
and denounced Carpenter in strong terms, but did not at- 
tempt to overthrow his arguments and conclusions except 
by accusing him of reviving state rights and slaver}' doc- 
trines, and appearing in the " blood-bespattered garments of 
John C. Calhoun." Several times during this bitter denun- 
ciatory declamation Carpenter requested to be allowed to 
ask a question — a courtesy always granted by senators 
except upon some peculiar occasion, — ^but Sumner scorn- 
fully refused, closing his effort by accusing Carpenter of 
advocating the exploded tenets of slavery and of misrepre- 
senting his [Sumner's] former speech. The moment Sum- 
ner resumed his seat Carpenter rose to reply, not waiting, 
as the gentleman from Massachusetts had done, several days 
to prepare for an assault. He had uttered only a few sen- 
tences when Sumner began a series of interruptions which 
were finally suppressed, as will appear by this official ex- 
tract from the debate: 

The senator has also called me to account for slighting the declaration 
of independence, and again charges nie with advocating the doctrines of 
Calhoun and vindicating slavery. The propensity of the senator to reduce 
every discussion, no mat'er what may be its subject, to the general head of 
slavery — a field of debate in which he has had great experience and won 
many laurels — calls to mind the practice of the quick who always threw 
his patient into convulsions, because that was a disease within his healing 
power. If the senator can refer any discussion to the head of slavery, he 
feels assured of victory and immediately proclaims his triumph. And 
here, vvhere the question relates to the power of congress over a given sub- 
ject, instead of meeting it like a man, face to face; instead of treating it 
like a lawver, with reason and arginnent, he flies at his opponent with de- 
nunciation and malediction, and pronounces him a secessionist and nullifier. 

Mr. Simmer — I used no such words. 

Mr. Carpenter — You did not like to be interrupted either, if I recollect. 



GEORGIA AND MISSISSIPPI. 345 

Mr. Sumner — No. 

Mr. Carpenter — I understand that the rules of the senate apply to you 
as well as to other senators. 

The Presiding Officer — The senator will address the chair, and will not 
be interrupted unless by his consent. 

GEORGIA AND MISSISSIPPI. 

In this debate Carpenter was also opposed by Senator 
Morton, who favored admitting Georgia conditionally; but the 
lamented senator from Indiana was silenced by the quoting 
of page after page from a speech he had made in 1868 upon 
the bill to admit Arkansas, and in which he had taken exactly 
the opposite ground, declaring it was " impossible to impose a 
fundamental condition upon the people of an incoming state." 
It was a powerful and conclusive speech — one of the very 
strongest of those ponderous addresses that Morton some- 
times pronounced in the senate, and Carpenter turned it upon 
the more puny arguments of the occasion in question with 
such deadly effect that not a syllable of reply was vouch- 
safed. 

Georgia was unconditionally admitted into the Union July 
15, 1870. 

In the briefer but not less spirited and able debate on B. 
F. Butler's bill to admit Mississippi into the Union, Carpen- 
ter argued particularly upon the constitutionality of the 
measure, and combated with great vigor the theory of some 
ot the democrats and of Norton, of Minnesota, that the 
southern states had never been out of the Union, and, there- 
fore, they had nothing to do at the close of the war but to 
elect representatives and senators, and congress had nothing 
to do but admit them. 

He argued that the more logical course would have been, 
on the surrender of Lee at Appomattox, for congress to have 
declared the war ended, all local governments in the rebell- 
ious states destroyed by the people thereof, and then to have 
proceeded with the formation of territorial governments, to 



346 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

continue until the inhabitants should be reconstructed in spirit 
and heart, as well as in form: 

But as tliat has not been done, we must hurry the work of reconstruc- 
tion, in order to silence military law, and Mississippi now applies for ad- 
mission as a state. Her government is not five years old; it is not the 
same government that was in this Union in i860; but it comes here now 
for the first time. Sir, it comes as a state, and you have but one thing to 
determine; you can admit her, or you can refuse her, but you can not do 
both. You must recognize her as possessing, in every respect and partic- 
ular, all the privileges, powers and prerogatives of a state, before you can 
admit her into this Union, because this Union is composed of states, and 
of states only. * * * By admitting her senators and representatives to 
congress, you declare her to be a state, for none but states can send senators 
to this chamber. * * * This doctrine of "fundamental conditions" is 
erroneous, both as regards the state and the United States. Those matters 
which belong equally to all the states are committed to this government, 
but all purely domestic matters are confided to the respective state govern- 
ments which compose this Union. 

He then showed that admitting any state upon "funda- 
mental conditions" would be declaring by congress that 
those acts imposing the conditions were constitutional. 
Therefore, a few years hence, a democratic congress might 
repeal those conditions as unnecessary, but having the prece- 
dent and sanction of a republican body, might declare that 
Massachusetts, New York and Illinois should be circum- 
scribed by congressional limitations and conditions, and pro- 
ceed to impose them. This illustration of how destructive 
in the fight the elephant may be when he turns back on his 
friends, startled the advocates of " fundamental conditions," 
and silenced many of them; but the bill was nevertheless 
passed. But, before the final vote was taken. Carpenter 
pleaded eloquently for perfect equality between the states, 
declaring anything else would be unconstitutional. He asked 
the senators if Mississippi, however niucli her sincerity and 
loyalty of spirit might be distrusted, could be admitted shorn 
of any powers, privileges and prerogatives granted to Mas- 
sachusetts by the tenth article of amendment to the constitu- 



RETURN OF THE OLD DOMINION. 347 

tion of the United States, and they were silent. He further 
illustrated his position: 

If a robber should apply for admission to my house, I would deny him 
admission, or I would admit him without exhibiting suspicion, thus show- 
ing him that I reposed confidence in him, and appeal to whatever of man- 
hood and generosity he might possess. But I would not admit him, and 
then insult him by pretending to tie his hands with a cord which I knew 
and he knew he could snap asunder in a second. * * * In so far as 
these conditions do not go beyond the provisions of the constitution of the' 
United States, they are wholly useless, because the constitution would 
answer the same purpose. In so far as they do go beyond it, they are in 
direct conflict with the constitution. 

Mississippi was conditionally admitted February 23, 1870. 

RETURN OF THE OLD DOMINION. 

In the debate (January, 1870) on Senator Thurman's bill 
declaring Virginia to be entitled to representation in con- 
gress, Senator Drake offered an amendment providing " That 
the constitution of Virginia shall never be so amended or 
changed as to deprive any citizen or class of citizens of the 
United States of the right to vote who are entitled to vote by 
the constitution herein recognized, except as a punishment 
for such crimes as are now felonies at common law." This 
was opposed by Carpenter, who said reconstruction had been 
begun too early, but if the time had come to admit Virginia, 
" let her be admitted as a state, not as a maimed, tied, muti- 
lated, partial member of this Union;" for if states were ad- 
mitted without the rights and privileges possessed by the other 
states, the Union must fail. " It will not do," he continued, " to 
say, as Virginia appears upon our threshold: 'We distrust 
you; we will not grant you the full functions of a state; we 
will not allow you to amend your constitution in certain par- 
ticulars.' She must either come in as a state or remain a terri- 
tory. We can not change a constitution which the people of 
Virginia have ratitied, and substitute by force one that they 
have not ratified." He argued at length against this amend- 
ment, showing that it was no more necessary to say 



348 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Virginia should not violate the fourteenth and fifteenth 
amendments than that it should not violate any other article 
or provision of the constitution, or that New York should 
not. The clause providing that " Should the legislature of 
said state of Virginia at any time hereafter pass any act 
or resolution purporting to rescind, annul or retract its ratifi- 
cation of the fifteenth article of amendment of the constitu- 
tion of the United States, the passage of such act or resolution 
shall operate to exclude said state from representation in con- 
gress, and to remand said state to its condition immediately 
prior to the passage of this resolution," was also opposed by 
Carpenter. On that point he said: 

It is not an agreeable office to set in array before a man the sins he has 
committed. It would be still more ungracious, in admitting a state to fel- 
lowship as a member of the Union, to threaten her with punishment if she 
should violate her duty as a state. " Sufficient unto the day is the evil 
thereof." Wh.-n the case arises which calls for congressional interference, 
congress will unquestionably interfere. It is our duty to extend to Vu-- 
ginia, coming as a state into the Union, the right hand of fellowship, and 
treat her as an equal, honored and trusted sister while she remains faithful 
to the relation she now assumes. Should she ever again unfortunately fail 
in that duty, the remembrance of her towns burned, her fields ravaged, her 
homes desolated, will suggest to her what has been and what must be the 
remedy. 

He antagonized Sumner, Morton and other leading sena- 
tors at this time, but subsequently his doctrine was confirmed 
by the highest authority. The debate was important in plac- 
ing upon record not only Carpenter's interpretation of the 
constitution in the practical work of reconstruction, but in dis- 
closing his views of the policy and wisdom of the scheme itself. 
In regard to the latter he declared: 

If I were to express any opinion upon this subject of reconstruction 
going into the past, I should say that the mistake which had been made was 
in hastening reconstruction. I would have had those southern states 
placed under the guardianship of the Union. I would have had them 
trained and disciplined to liberty and law and order, and all the better if it 
had been continued fir twenty-five years. I would let this generation cool 
down. But then, sir, whenever the time did come, be it early or late, for 
creating states out of tliose territories, I would have states. I would have 



THE SPANISH GUN-BOATS — CUBA. 349 

no maimed, tied, mutilated, partial member of this Union ; no state here 
without the rights and privileges possessed by other states, for I believe no 
such Union can go safely on the tide of time. The guaranty of our Union, 
its perpetuity and its peace, is in the equality of every member of the 
Union. I would give to Virginia while I gave her place at this board 1 all 
the rights I would give to Massachusetts. 

If Carpenter's plan of reconstruction and " cooling down " 
had been adopted, there would have been no electoral com- 
mission, no Hamburg outrages or Chisholm butchery, no 
Louisiana returning-board, nor any of their collateral evils. 

THE SPANISH GUN-BOATS — CUBA. 

But that which made Carpenter most conspicuous during 
this session of congress, both in America and Europe, was 
his debate on a resolution, introduced by him December 13, 
1869: 

Resolved, That, in the opinion of the senate, the thirty gun-boats pur- 
chased or contracted for in the United States by or on behalf of the govern- 
ment of Spain to be employed against the revolted district of Cuba should 
not be allowed to depart from the United States during the continuance of 
that rebellion. 

Two days later he opened his speech by sa3dng he had 
waited anxiously for some old senator of national reputation, 
"thus giving to the subject a degree of importance which 
could not attach coming from him," and that fearing his 
*' ardent western temperament and the warm sympathy of 
his nature would betray him into the use of inflammatory 
rhetoric," he should confine himself, " at great personal in- 
convenience," to his notes. He then gave a succinct but 
lucid history of Cuba; summed up her deplorable condition at 
that time; showed under what a wicked and stupendous 
system of extortion she was struggling; drew a startling 
picture of the slavery, physical and political, against which the 
Cubans were in revolt; quoted from the constitution of the 
patriots, which emancipated all slaves; astonished the senate 
by a comprehensive discourse upon the doctrines of neutrality 

1 Virginia was conditionally admitted January 26, 1870. 



350 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

and the law of nations; appealed eloquently to Charles 
Sumner, a veteran war-horse in the anfi-slavery agitation, to 
make use of his position as chairman of the committee on 
foreign relations to place the government right on the record 
of freedom, and to throw the weight of his great influence 
on the side of struggling and down-trodden liberty; quoted all 
the statutes and from scores of decisions to sustain his theory 
that the thirty gun-boats which Spain was about to take out 
of New York against Cuba should be libeled, and thus give 
the Cubans an opportunity to prove, as they had begged to 
do, that the condition of things on their island was true as 
had been stated, and then closed: 

Nothing short of affording this opportunity will discharge our full duty 
in the premises. Spain, employing all her available naval and military 
forces, for more than a year has been unable to suppress the revolt in 
Cuba. If she shall, by means of these gun-boats, be able to accomplish 
what she has not been able to and probably could not do without them, 
and the subjection of that island shall thus be effected, to be followed with 
shooting, hanging and the wholesale punishments which always follow 
Spanish victories on this continent, Cuba may say, the world will say, and, 
what is worse, we shall know, that we have furnished to Spain the means 
by which this result is accomplished. If there be no war in Cuba, then 
Spain will not greatly suffer from the delay necessary to be occasioned in 
trying this question. Cuba holds up her hands to us, states her case, rep- 
resents her condition; Spain denies the truth of these statements and Cuba 
off«rs to prove them. Shall we deny her this opportunity.'' * * * Lib- 
erty in Cuba is in the helplessness of infancy; its life is feeble, its pulse 
low. » * » As it is, whether the United Stites does its duty or vio- 
lates its duty, Cuba is without remedy ; but there is a bar, the bar of impar- 
tial history, before which all governments must stand; there is a God, and 
a great book in which the deeds of nations are written, and there is retribu- 
tion for every nation which, knowing its duty, does it not. 

After closing the speech, which was listened to with un- 
usual attention, except that the senator from Massachusetts 
assumed a comtemptuous indillerence. Carpenter stated that 
he thought early action was necessary, as he understood 
eighteen of the gun-boats would leave New York harbor in 
two days. At this Sumner sprung to his feet, and flaunting 
the paper upon which it was written before the senate, read 



THE SPANISH GUN-BOATS — CUBA. 35 1 

a telegram sent from New York the night before, saying 
the vessels had been delivered to the agents of the Spanish 
government, that they were flying the Spanish flag, were 
fully manned, and would put to sea the following morning. 
"The following morning is this morning," exultantly cried 
Sumner, who then proceeded to briefly oppose the resolution 
upon the ground that Carpenter had misapprehended the 
statutes, that Cuba was not in a state of war, and that con- 
gress had no knowledge of the real condition of affairs in 
Cuba upon which to predicate debate and action. Carpen- 
ter then asked if the present was not a most favorable time 
to libel the boats and secure proof on the facts the senator 
from Massachusetts had desired. Sumner replied that he 
thought not; that the better way was to await information 
from the state department,^ and " send to the authorized agents 
in Cuba and direct them to report." 

Thus it became apparent to Carpenter that, for some rea- 
son, unknown to him, Sumner was seeking delay, and he 
was not a little astonished that the great antagonist of slav- 
ery and oppression in other days should be possessed of 
such minute information, not within the reach of the other 
senators, in regard to the secret movements of the Spanish 
gun-boats fitted out in American ports in the interest of slav- 
ery, and that he should manifest such ill-concealed relish in 
reading it to the senate to show that the war-ships had sailed 
and that the purpose of the resolution had thus been baf- 
fled. When questioned as to the responsibilit}^ and identity 
of the sender of the dispatch, Sumner vouchsafed no infor- 
mation; but it soon became known that he was present the 
night before at a dinner given by Secretary Fish, and re- 
ceived a copy of the telegram from Sidney Webster (attor- 
ney or agent of the Spanish government at a large salary) 
to whom it was sent officially. 

The gun-boats had been detained by the administration, but 

1 A resolution asking for information relative to the revolt in Cuba had 
previously been adopted. 



352 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

suddenly, when it became known that Carpenter had pre- 
pared a resolution asking to have them libeled, they were 
released, and taking officers, provisions and crews from the 
Spanish ship Pizarro, sailed away in the shortest possible 
order. The liberty-lovers of the senate had been outwitted. 
The Spaniards sent word that if action on Carpenter's reso- 
lution could be delayed, the gun-boats would be entirely be- 
yond the reach of its terms. That delay was secured before 
Carpenter discovered why it was wanted. 

When Sumner's position and action in the senate became 
known and Carpenter's speech had been read by the people, 
there arose a violent clamor against the former and unbounded 
praise for the latter. The newspapers voiced public senti- 
ment. The New York Times cried " America's shame ;" 
the New York Szin declared that " Massachusetts had been 
forever disgraced," and hurled bolt after bolt at Sumner, 
styling him, in bitter irony, " The Great Pro-Slavery Senator 
from Massachusetts;" and the New Yor'k Herald said: 

The secretary has been influenced, probably, by Spanish agents, and 
aiTion<^ these by his own son-in-law, who, it is reported, receives a fee, or 
bribe, or whatever it may be called, of forty thousand dollars a year from 
Spain. lie has been influenced, too, no doubt, by Senator Sumner, the 
chairman of the committee on foreign aflfairs in the senate, who is the enemy 
of Cuba, because, forsooth, lie imagines that any kindness shown to the 
Cubans or the recognition of their belligerent rights might destroy the ef- 
fect of his grand sophpmorical speech on the Alabama claims. 

SPLENDID INDORSEMENTS. 

On the other hand, the leading journals of the countrj', ir- 
respective of party, were unstinted in their commendation of 
Carpenter's eloquence and patriotism, while the foremost 
judges and jurists indorsed his interpretation of, and conclu- 
sions upon, the neutrality laws and the conditions necessary 
to constitute a state of belligerence. His name and praise 
appeared in almost every publication, and were heard in 
every gathering throughout the countr}-. He thus became, 
at a single bound, the most prominent and popular member 



SPLENDID INDORSEMENTS. 353 

of the senate. The various state legislatures then in session 
adopted resolutions indorsing his speech and condemning the 
action of the government in libeling the Hornet, a vessel fit- 
ted out by the Cuban patriots in American waters to cruise 
against Spain, while releasing, in such a manner as to arouse 
public suspicion, the thirty gun-boats fitted out in the same 
waters by the Spaniards to levy war against the Cuban 
patriots. 

Carpenter based his argument that it was the clear duty 
of the federal power to libel the thirty gun-boats fitted out in 
the United States to cruise against Cuba, upon the section of 
the neutrality laws of 1818 which declares that any ship in 
any manner fitted out, provisioned or armed within the limits 
of the United States, to be used to commit hostilities against 
the " subjects, citizens or property of any foreign prince or 
state, or any colony, district or people with whom the United 
States are at peace," shall be, with all her tackle, stores, am- 
munition, etc., seized, and the persons engaged in such/fitting 
out fined and imprisoned. But Sumner, in the clear interest 
of Spain, said this law did not apply to Cuba and Spain in 
the case under discussion, and that Carpenter was laboring 
under a mistaken reading of the statutes. Three days later, 
however, Judge Alfred Conkling, of New York, who had 
been employed to gather and digest the neutrality laws dur- 
ing the " Patriot War " in Canada, wrote for Hamilton Fish, 
secretary of state, an elaborate opinion overthrowing the 
peculiar assumptions of Sumner and affirming the unblem- 
ished soundness of Carpenter's reasoning and conclusions. 

A great mass-meeting was held in New York city, which 
was addressed by Horace Greeley, Cassius M. Clay, and 
other leading men, to indorse Carpenter and condemn Sum- 
ner, and a resolution was adopted by the New York legisla- 
ture praising the former's speech, and declaring his resolution 
should have been adopted. 

On the 3d day of February, when the bill introduced by 
Senator T. O. Howe [of Wisconsin] " to preserve the neu- 
23 



354 LI^^ OF CARPENTER. 

trality of the United States," which had reference to Spain 
and Cuba, came up, Carpenter made a still more elaborate 
and powerful speech in support of the position he had as- 
sumed in favoring the adoption of his own resolution, and 
took occasion to handle Sumner and his so-styled " pro-slav- 
ery" remarks with great freedom and severity. Sumner, 
observing how pitilessly he was being torn to shreds, arose 
and denied that he intended in his remarks to convey the 
meaning that had been put upon them. Carpenter replied 
that no other construction was possible, and that Sumner 
should thank him for giving such an excellent opportunity 
to explain some very unfortunate remarks, adding: 

I understand him now to admit all that I claim, that this neutrality act 
is as applicable to the condition of things between Spain and Cuba 

Mr. Sumner — No; I do not admit any such thing. 

Mr. Carpenter — I understand the senator now to admit that this statute 
of neutrality is just as applicable to a state of things between Spain and 
Cuba as it was between Spain and the South American provinces, provided 
the facts of the case bring it within the position that those parties occupied 
at that time. 

Mr. Sumner — Precisely; that is my position. 

Mr. Carpenter — That is all I wished to establish. I shall congratulate 
myself on having succeeded. I know I am right now, because I am not 
only sustained by the authorities which I have read, but I am backed up to 
the handle by the senator from Massachusetts. 

In this spirited controversy both men won. Carpenter 
failed to prevent the sailing of the Spanish gun-boats, but he 
won the highest place in popular regard. Sumner lost his 
hold upon the American public, but rendered full service to 
Spain. 

Carpenter's reputation as a brilliant orator, powerful de- 
bater and clear expounder of constitutional and international 
law was fully established by the Cuban question, was freely 
acknowledged everywhere, the New York Times pronounc- 
ing him the "best speaker in the senate and the Daniel 
Webster of the west." Indeed, it has never been denied 
that his second speech upon that subject was one of the most 
remarkable, in the wide range of its historical references, ex- 



AN "inhabitant" OR A "RESIDENT." 355 

tended research into authorities and decisions, uncontro- 
vertible application of law to fact, unanswerable form of 
statements and arguments, and withal, in eloquence and 
sarcasm, that has ever been heard in the senate. No man 
could make any adequate reply to it without weeks of 
preparation; and although Sumner gave notice of a reply, 
he refrained from keeping the promise. 

AN "INHABITANT" OR A "RESIDENT." 

In March, 1870, occurred a somewhat notable debate on 
the eligibility'- of Adelbert Ames as senator from Mississippi. 
He was a general in the army, and had been sent as such to 
unreconstructed Mississippi. While stationed there he agreed 
that if he could be elected United States senator he would 
make Mississippi his future home. On this promise he was 
elected and presented himself for admission to the chamber. 
The committee on judiciary, after a careful investigation, 
decided Mr. Ames to be ineligible, whereupon the republican 
leaders made very active warfare upon the report and its 
signers, for partisan reasons, Mr. Ames being a republican, 
as were also a majority of the committee and of the senate. 

The constitution of the United States declares that a man 
to be eligible to the United States senate must be, among 
other things, "an inhabitant of the state for which he shall 
be chosen." Mr. Ames went temporarily to Mississippi 
upon military duty, in obedience to orders, and not volun- 
tarily as a citizen intending to found a home or a business. 
The question, therefore, turned upon whether he was an 
" inhabitant " of that state, and Carpenter, with great clear- 
ness and perspicuity, maintained that he was not, as Mr. 
Ames had stated to the committee that he would not have 
remained in Mississippi as a resident, nor resigned from the 
army, if he had not been chosen United States senator. In 
this debate those who proposed to seat Mr. Ames whether 
or not he was entitled to recognition were branded by Car- 
penter as " the advance guard of the constitution raiders." 



35^ LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

He paid a very high compliment to Mr. Ames for his hon- 
esty and fairness, saying: 

He made no attempt to conceal or cclor facts; he stated the truth with 
the frankness of a soldier. * * * I have the highest respect and admira- 
tion for General Ames, and if after this full performance of my duty and 
after my vote, which must be cast against him, a majority of the senate 
shall accord to him a seat in this body, though I shall regard the precedent 
as bad and a dangerous one, and though I shall believe that he has been ad- 
mitted to his seat through the bleeding sides and broken ribs of the con- 
stitution, nevertheless I shall most cordially welcome him personally. 

Mr. Ames was admitted April i, 1870, by a vote of forty 
to twelve. Among those who voted nay with Carpenter 
were Roscoe Conkling, L3'man Trumbull, Geo. F. Ed- 
munds, T. F. Ba3'ard and Carl Schurz, and when the mat- 
ter was subsequently brought unofficially to the notice of 
several members of the United States supreme court, they 
decided without hesitancy that Carpenter's definition of ineli- 
gibility was correct. 

ENFORCING THE AMENDMENTS. 
During the long and somewhat partisan debates on Bing- 
ham's bill to enforce the fifteenth amendment, the democrats 
were greatly harassed by Carpenter's interpretation of the 
various amendments which they oiTered. While Thurman 
was advocating a provision which proposed to punish of- 
fenses against the laws governing the election of members 
of congress. Carpenter interposed: 

Inasmuch as the election takes place at the same time and place for offi- 
cers under the general government, to wit, members of congress and officers 
of the state government, if the penalties attached to our law are sufficient 
sanctions to compel obedience to it, the New York repeaters, as they go to 
the polls, will be in this predicament: they will be compelled to vote hon- 
estly for federal officers, but will be left to their old practices on state officers; 
and this will produce such an almighty perplexity on their part that I am 
afraid they will not vote at all. 

Carpenter offered this amendment to the Bingham bill, 
which was adopted and became a portion of the law: 

That any person who shall be deprived, or fail to be elected to any office, 
except that of member of congress or member of a state legislature, by 



LARGE OFFICES, SMALL PAY. 357 

reason of the denial to any citizen of the right to vote, who offered his 
vole at the election, on account of his race, color or previous condition of 
servitude, shall be entitled to hold such office and perform the duties and 
receive the emoluments thereof, and may recover the possession of such 
ollice by qito ivarraiito or other appropriate proceeding in the circuit or 
district court of the United States for the proper district, or in any state 
court having jurisdiction of such proceedings. 

LARGE OFFICES, SMALL PAY. 

During the discussion of the appropriation bills of the ses- 
sion, Carpenter made an eloquent but unavailing plea for the 
adoption of an amendment increasing the pay of the judi- 
ciary — raising the salaries of the justices of the supreme court 
to $10,000, and of other judges proportionately. He de- 
clared the time had come when the salaries for civil service 
must be increased or the government would go practically 
into the hands of an aristocracy of wealth. His argument is 
interesting: 

An act of congress which provided that no judge should sit on the su- 
preme bench unless he had a certain income would raise an insurrection in 
this country, and yet what is the practical difference between such an act 
and one which fixes the salary so low that a man can not take the place un- 
less he has a private income? 

Look at England. They are consistent with themselves. Their theory 
of civil government is that it should be in the hands of an aristocracy of 
wealth and nobility of blood. How do they manage to secure that end.? 
They will not pay a member Of parliament a shilling. What is the result.? 
The house of commons to-day is the richest body of men in England. We 
have heard a great deal of discussion in that country that has come to us 
over the water about reform, enlarging the ballot. What does it amount 
to.? Has the poor man in England any rights whatever with the ballot 
enlarged.' What odds does it make whether the nabob sitting in parlia- 
ment is voted for by twenty-five hundred or twenty-five thousand poor 
men.? The poor men have no interest in parliament; they can not take 
seats there, because they can not support themselves after they get there. 

See how it works in our own midst. When General Grant's administra- 
tion came in, he offered the office of secretary of state to a statesman of the 
west, ot Iowa, a man whom all of us would have been proud to see in that 
place. How did he look at it.? To come to Washington and live as a sec- 
retary of state should live would cost him $15,000 a year, and his salary 
was $S,ooo; $7,000 out of pocket each year. If he were to stay with his 



358 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

family in Iowa, he could support them on $5,000 and make $15,000. There 
was $17,000 difference in his bank account. He could not afford to pay 
that amount to be secretary of state. Then General Grant goes right to 
the eastern states and offers the ofSce to a man to whom the $17,000 made 
no earthly difference; and in that case your $S,ooo paid to the present sec- 
retary of state is thrown away, because he would have taken the ofTice just 
as quick without the salary as with it. 

Let ine give another instance, to which my friend from Nevada [Mr. Nye] 
calls my attention. During the war Mr. Stanton was working in the war 
office on an average sixteen hours a day, doing an amount ot toil, meeting 
an amount of responsibility, which no man on earth ever did for such a 
length of time; toil and trouble that broke down his giant constitution and 
sent him untimely to the grave, where the representatives of this nation 
with heavy hearts and with heads bowed down have so recently laid him. 
During those same years railroad companies all over the country were pay- 
ing $io,ooo a year to their attorneys 

PROTECTING CITIZENS ABROAD. 

Davis Hatch, of Connecticut, doing business in San Do- 
mingo, was seized upon the order of the president of the 
Dominican government and sentenced to death for no violation 
of law or order whatever, the pretense of President Baez 
being that he would make such revelations in regard to the 
condition of the island that a treaty then pending would not 
be ratified by the United States. O. E. Babcock was in San 
Domingo in charge of the treaty negotiations, and the peti- 
tion of Hatch related that he had bepn continued in prison at 
Babcock's solicitation. When Senator Ferry, in reading the 
petition, came to this feature of it, Sumner exclaimed, refer- 
ring to Babcock: '' He ought to be cashiered at once." This 
wakened Carpenter who objected to referring the documents 
for investigation to the committee on foreign relations, whose 
chairman, Sumner, was having a quarrel with President 
Grant, and who was therefore assumed to entertain a strong 
prejudice against General Babcock. Carpenter pronounced 
a speech on the subject, closing as follows: 

The British government stands peerless before the world and challensfes 
the world's admiration for the protection it affords to its subjects in the re- 
motest corner of the globe. No matter how far away nor in what clime, 



THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 359 

nor how humble the sufferer may be, that government is ready to exert its 
utmost power for his relief and the redress of his wrongs. An injury to an 
Englishman is an insult to England. I admire the English monarchy as 
much for this as I detest it for the wrongs it often inflicts upon the subjects 
and citizens of other countries. 

In this respect, in my judgment, this great republic has been sadly at 
fault; and it is high time that our practice, in this particular, should be 
reformed. 

Let it be considered as the settled policy of this republic to redress the 
wrongs of its citizens, not only in San Domingo, but everywhere; and 1 
invoke a part of the indignation and wrath which the chairman of our 
committee on foreign relations has poured upon General Babcock in behalf 
of a redress of the yet unpunished wrongs which have been committed 
upon American citizens in Cuba. They have been murdered, openly as- 
sassinated in the streets of Havana, and one of our citizens, representing 
this nation as an acting consul, has been driven. from that island, escaping 
for his life under protection of the flag of England. 

Let us investigate this case thoroughly, but let it be done by a committee 
whose chairman has not already reported against one of the conspicuous 
actors whose conduct is to be investigated. 

THE FRANKING PRIVILEGE. 

One of the speeches of this session, which the opposition 
newspapers subsequently made use of in attempts to injure 
Carpenter politically, was that against Representative 
Farnsworth's bill to abolish the franking privilege; but it 
was, upon a subject apparently so dry and barren, one of the 
most ingenious, logical and entertaining addresses ot the 
session. 

A large number of petitions from all parts of the countr}^ 
had been presented, praying for the abolition of the franking 
privilege, and Carpenter startled the senate by exposing the 
manner in which those petitions were obtained. He showed 
that the postmaster-general had sent printed circulars to 
about twenty-eight thousand postmasters throughout the 
Union, directing them to obtain as many signatures as they 
could to papers requesting the abolishment of the franking 
privilege, and return them to the senators and representa- 
tives of their respective states. He presented to the senate 
the proof that this large amount of matter " was sent out 



360 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

under the frank of the postoffice department as ojficiul husi- 
jiessJ*^ He also stated that he had been unable to find a 
single genuine petition — one that had not been forcibly ob- 
tained in the manner mentioned. He then made an argu- 
ment of some length upon the merits of the question. He 
showed by facts and figures that the franking privilege, in- 
stead of being a benefit and valuable perquisite to congress- 
men, was a source of great annoyance and expense, as he 
had, for the current session alone, expended over $300 for 
speeches called for by his Wisconsin friends, to say nothing 
of the labor and trouble of franking. To use his own 
words: 

The benefits of the franking privilege may be disti'ibuted thus: To the 
member, the privilege ot buying speeches, paying for them out of his own 
pocket, working night and day to frank them, besides paying a clerk to 
direct them ; and to the people, the privilege of obtaining them without 
money and without price. 

He then referred to the fact that when a senator could 
send his own speeches to his constituents, they would show 
that he was right or wrong, and the people could thus learn 
whether they were being misrepresented; and that, as the 
contracts for carrying the mails had already been let for four 
years, the passage of the pending bill would benefit no one, 
not e%en the government. In referring to the Rebellion and 
the benefits arising from cheap and rapid communication 
between the government and the people, he said: 

I was not in congress during those years; but I was with the people fre- 
quently on the stump, and I can testify to the benefits of the franking priv- 
ilege during those dark and perilous times. It is my honest belief that the 
Union party could not have been kept in power, nor the people held up to 
the support of the governm jnt through the war, but for the flood .of intelli- 
gence and patriotic appeals which was poured over the country as free mail 
matter. 

After referring to the fact that the government maintains 
courts, an army and a navy for the benefit of the pubHc, and 
that a merchant vessel is protected from pirates in the far- 
thest pea without cost, and that upon application the arm}' 



A SNUG LITTLE JOB. 361 

quells, for any community, and free of expense, Indian out- 
breaks, insurrections and petty invasions, he put forth this 
doctrine : 

If it be not a government duty imposed by the constitution to carry the 
mails, then the government has no right to carry them ; and it' it has such 
right and owes such duty, then the expense of performing tliat duty should 
be defrayed from the general treasury. 

Speaking from a partisan standpoint he said: 

You have inaui;urated and nearly consummated a reconstruction of civil 
government in the lately rebel states. Is it not important that you should 
retain every facility for flooding those states with intelligence? Do you 
think it would be well for our party, well for our country and well for free 
♦ institutions to discourage and tax the transmission of our political views to 
the south? In a mere party sense it would be madness. * * * I believe 
if, instead of depriving our people of intelligence, as a means of saving 
$500,000, we should annually appropriate $10,000,000 to transmit all letters 
and papers to Europe, in ten years we would revolutionize those countries. 

The measure did not pass. 

A SNUG LITTLE JOB 

When the bill to aid in building the Texas Pacific Railway 
from Marshall, Texas, to San Diego, California, was under 
discussion, an amendment embodying what that famous lob- 
byist, Sam Ward, would have called a "snug little job," was 
offered and seemed likely to pass. It purported to grant the 
Chattanooga & Alabama Railway Company, by consolida- 
tion with the Vicksburg & Meridian Railway Company and 
the North Louisiana & Texas Railway Company, author- 
ity to form a junction at Marshall with the Texas Pacific 
line, but it really gave largely increased land-grants to roads 
already built, and whose charters and fi-anchises came Irom 
their respective states, not from congress. The language of 
the amendment was so cunningly devised that only the in- 
terested senators understood what would be accompHshed; 
but Carpenter exposed the whole scheme and defeated it. 
An amendment offered by him prevailed, and thus one of 
the neatest jobs ever attempted to be smuggled through con- 
m-ess was beheaded 



362 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



TARIFF AND TAXES. 

In discussing the tariff bill Carpenter opposed imposts on 
books as " a direct tax on knowledge." The income-tax he 
opposed for, among others, the following reason: 

I vote against the income-tax because, while I admit that theoretically 
it is a perfect way of getting revenue, yet in its practical operation it lays a 
tax upon conscience. Go througli the agricultural districts of Wisconsin, 
and you will find in all instances that the conscientious men, the clergy- 
men, the men who are on salaries, whose income is known and can be as- 
certained, have to pay their tax ; but the men whose income is in fact five 
times as large, and you have no means to reach it, go scot free. In other 
words, the tax upon incomes, in its practical operation, is a tax upon con- 
science; and conscience has fared badly in this country a great many times. 

CITIZENSHIP OF THE CHINESE. 

One of the speeches that was particularly clear in show- 
ing the liberal, enlightened and progressive policy Carpenter 
always entertained and advocated, was that upon Represent- 
ative Davis' bill "to amend the naturalization laws and to 
punish crimes against the same." Charles Sumner offered 
an amendment, striking the word " white " from the natural- 
ization laws, so as to enable colored persons born in the West 
Indies, Africa and elsewhere to become voters with the f reed- 
men. This excited the Pacific Slope senators, one of whom 
[Mr. Williams, of Oregon] added a proviso that the act 
under consideration should *' not be construed to authorize 
the naturalization of persons born in the Chinese empire." 
Carpenter fought this vigorously with Sumner, and succeeded 
in defeating it, leaving the law with no reference to China- 
men. He closed his speech on the subject in these words: 

Whenever a new question arises in the details of administration, when- 
ever a new subject is presented for lei^islative regulaiion, and doubts exist 
in regard to the course to be pursued, it is safer to be guided by principle 
than by prejudice or passion. What, then, is the American principle that 
should guide us here? There are, of course, many theories as to where the 
right of suffrage should be vested. Those writers on the science of gov- 
ernment who believe that the few were designated to govern the many 



PENSIONS — CORPORATIONS. 363 

have long since predicted the ruin of our nation, because the right of suf- 
frage is so widely extended. Some contend for a standard of intelligence; 
some would seek the standard in wealth; some in blood; some in one thing, 
and some in another. But we Americans have met all the discussions and 
arguments upon this subject with a broad American principle, which is 
that every man who is bound by the law ought to have a voice in making 
the law. By the opposition of the senator from Oregon I am reminded of 
one of Lamb's essays, the one upon roast pig. He describes himself as 
being a generous man; says he would divide with his friend most of the 
good things of life, baef, mutton, oysters, clams, etc.; but that every man's 
generosity must have some limit, and he says he stops on roast pig; that he 
would not divide a morsel of it with the best friend he had on earth. The 
senator from Oregon is a liberal statesman, and a good man — a man of 
great brain and of warm heart. He would welcome the Frenchman, the 
Englishman, the German, the Norwegian, and the Swede; yes, the slave 
just freed from his bonds and the Negro from the interior of Africa; but 
the senator's generosity must have some limit, and so he stops on the 
Chinaman; the Chinaman is his roast pig. 

Sir, this American maxim, that all freemen bound by the law, ought to 
have a voice in making the law, is either a truth or a falsehood. If it be a 
truth, the Chinaman 1 is entitled to vote; if it be a falsehood, then you 
must call witnesses to prove that you yourself are entitled to vote. 

Often during the war the darkness was so dense that the path before us 
as a nation could not be seen. But with the people, when sight failed, 
faith inspired them, and hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder, and with 
faces imploringly uplifted to Heaven, they walked hopefully and safely 
through the gloom that enveloped them. So let us do here. To admit 
the Chinaman to full participation in the rights of citizenship may well 
create some apprehension ; but I would sooner apply our principles to him 
than confess them to be erroneous, and thus destroy the only foundation 
upon which free government can rest, 

PENSIONS — CORPORATIONS. 

Carpenter, by voice and vote, supported the bill to grant 
the widow of Abraham Lincoln a pension of $3,000 per 
year. His speech was eloquent, and in it he predicted that 
probably the United States would never have another oppor- 
tunity to pension the widow of an assassinated President; 

1 If Carpenter had lived to run for the presidency, as many thought he 
would, he could not have carried California. 



364 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

but just eleven years from that month President James 
A. Garfield, being shot, made his prophecy, unfortunately, 
untrue. 

An amendment to the appropriation bill allowing the sec- 
retary of the interior to pay settlers for property destroyed 
by Indian depredations was opposed on the ground that it 
was illegal, and that to recognize such claims would be to 
open the door to a perpetUill list of constantly-increasing 
demands of the same sort, founded largely upon fraud or 
circumstances for which the settlers were primarily blamable. 

In advocating the passage of Senator Sumner's bill to reg- 
ulate by act of congress the telegraph and cable lines and 
regulate telegraphic communication between the United 
States and foreign countries, Carpenter struck a popular 
chord that echoed and re-echoed throughout the country, 
when he declared: 

This is an exceedingly important subject, and without attemptinoj a dis- 
cussion of it at this time, I desire to saj that if our liberties are in danger 
to-day from any source it is from the fearful growth of monopolies in the 
country. The states are powerless in the premises. * * * But fortu- 
nately there is no such restraint upon the power of congress. There is 
no such thing as a vested right, in the technical sense, in any corporation 
created by congress, which is beyond the control of congress. Any 
corporation which congress has ever created might be to-day dissolved. 

WISCONSIN MEASURES. 

Carpenter procured the passage by congress of a measure 
to exempt forever from taxation the property of the Taylor 
orphan asylum at Racine, Wisconsin, a noble institution 
founded by money bequeathed by Isaac Taylor, a philan- 
thropic Englishman who landed in New York in 1828 and 
settled in Racine in 1842. Carpenter always had a deep and 
heart-felt interest in that institution, and said the passage of 
this bill gave him more pleasure than anything else he had 
done in conirress. 



WISCONSIN MEASURES. 365 

So far as Wisconsin is concerned, the most important 
measure advocated by him ^ in congress was that dividing 
the state into two judicial districts, the eastern and the west- 
ern, for the federal courts. The law left the records, the 
judge and other officers with the former district at Mil- 
waukee, and provided for . the appointment of a judge, 
marshal, attorney and clerk for the new district. He recom- 
mended the appointment of James C. Hopkins of Madison as 
United States district judge; Charles M, Webb of Grand 
Rapids as United States district attorney, and Frank W. 
Oakley as United States marshal. Against the passage of 
this bill, Milwaukee, his home, made determined opposition. 
But, although to divide the state was contrary to the pro- 
fessional interests of himself, his partner and his brother at- 
torneys, he rose above all local and personal considerations 
in obedience to the sentiment of the entire commonwealth, 
and insisted upon the passage of the measure. 

1 Carried through with the material aid of Congressman David Atwood, 
of Madison. 



/ 



366 LIFE OF CARPENTER, 

CHAPTER XXX. 

FORTY-FIRST CONGRESS, THIRD SESSION. 

The third session of the forty-first congress, which con- 
vened December 5, 1870, was less spirited and important than 
its predecessor, and fewer matters were considered that 
brought Carpenter into prominence. 

Senator McCreery, of Kentucky, at an early day, offered 
a resolution asking for a joint committee of five to investigate 
the claim of Mrs. Robert E. Lee to compensation for or the 
restoration of Arlington Heights, taken by the government 
for non-payment of taxes during the war, and subsequently 
used as a cemetery for Union soldiers. The resolution pro- 
posed that the dead soldiers should be removed, the property 
restored to Mrs, Lee, together with full remuneration for all 
trees felled and property destroyed, all wastage and loss from 
dispossession, and rental for the time the government held the 
estate. Carpenter characterized the measure as "an insult 
to the senate of the United States," and voted against it. 

In the furious and acrimonious debate on Morton's resolu- 
tion asking for the appointment of a committee to proceed to 
San Domingo for the purpose of discovenng whether it was 
advisable to annex that island to the United States, Carpenter 
took little part. He defended President Grant from those 
assaults of Sumner which Chandler of Michigan character- 
ized (December 21, 1870), on the floor of the chamber, as the 
" most brutal " he had heard during his fourteen years of 
service in the senate. He voted for the resolution. 

A "PECULIAR" CLAIM. 

When Senator Davis, of Kentuck}'', presented a bill for the 
payment of a liberal sum to J. M. Best, of that state, whose 
house was destroyed by the federal troops while in action, 
Carpenter renewed his opposition to the recognition of any 



A "peculiar" claim. 367 

so-called southern claims. This was called a " peculiar " 
case, inasmuch as Best claimed to have been loyal in spirit to 
the Union, and his house was destroyed by the Union soldiers 
during the second day of the battle at Paducah, to prevent 
its further use by the confederate sharp-shooters. Therefore, 
the champions of the bill declared that was " taking property 
for public use," and under the constitution Best must be paid. 
Carpenter's speech on the question was one of the very 
clearest expositions of the doctrines of peace and war, and the 
liability of the United States to even those whose loyalty to 
the Union was manifest, but who chose to remain in the south 
and pay taxes to carry on the Rebellion, that was ever uttered 
in this country. He contended: 

Every man, woman or child in the districts over which the rebellious 
but de facto southern governments exercised control was a public enemy of 
the United States. There was no recorded instance, so far as I knew, of 
resistance by the people of the south to the fiats of the de facto govern- 
ments, and if the south had succeeded in the field, the independence 
of those states would have dated from the dates of their respective ordi- 
nances of secession, and their territory and inhabitants would have been to 
us a foreign soil and people, and every man residing within their limits, 
without regard to his sentiments or conduct during the war, would have 
been an alien to the United States. * * * Every person, in fact, subject 
to the authority of one of the contending governments is a public enemy 
of every person subject to the authority of the other. 

The champions of Best held that a loyal citizen residing 
in the confederacy and having his property destroyed in 
war, was as much entitled to compensation as one who, re- 
siding in the north, had his substance taken for army sup- 
plies. Carpenter declared this to be an absurd principle, as 
a resident of South Carolina who, though pretending to be 
loyal, should, nevertheless, be drafted into the confederate 
army and lose an arm by a Union bullet, could not plead 
loyalty to establish the liability of the government and thus 
go upon the pension list. The man who thus lost his arm, 
he alleged, would occupy the same category with the one 



368 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

whose property was destroyed in battle. lie further con- 
tended: 

War means destruction. Armies are marched through hostile territory 
to kill, burn, ravage and lay waste. The commanding general has no juris- 
diction to determine who in the enemy's country is guilty and who is in- 
nocent. He has but one duty to perform, and that is to prostrate and reduce 
the enemy's country. And if, while the war is raging, no person within 
the enemy's lines can plead lo^'alty and exempt his property, it is equally 
clear that he can not, after the war has been concluded, found a legal claim 
against the government on what it was proper for the military forces to do. 

In concluding he said many of these cases appealed 
strongly to the sympathy, and that congress might, in its 
bounty, grant some remuneration, as a traitor ma}' be par- 
doned; but that no citizen of the rebellious district had any 
right to demand either pardon or remuneration. He did not 
think it was even time to be generous; that no appeals from 
recent public enemies should be heeded until all the legal ob- 
ligations of the government had been paid. No one pre- 
tended to answer Carpenter's argument, nor to act in 
opposition to him upon legal and constitutional grounds; but 
the bill passed the senate simply because the repubhcans of 
that body had sufficient numerical strength, regardless of 
precedent, decisions and law. 

CO-EDUCATION OF WHITES AND BLACKS. 

In discussing the measure establishing a system of educa- 
tion in the District of Columbia, Carpenter opposed making 
any distinction on account of color; that is, opposed opening 
separate schools for white and black children. He spoke 
with considerable eloquence for the colored race, closing 
thus: 

We have said that these men, in common with all men, shall vote. We 
have said they shall sit in the jury-box and upon the bench ; that they may 
hold office; and we have assumed to destroy all distinctions. If we insist 
upon destroying this distinction as to suffrage and holding office, how ab- 
surd it is to set up that distinction at the very fountain of life, to abolish 



SALARIES OF JUDGES. 3^ 

which we have been amending the constitution and legislating for ten 
years! 

Later experience has shown that in many localities, at 
least, the attempted co-education of white and black children 
resulted in perpetual clashing and trouble. 

SALARIES OF JUDGES. 

When the bill making appropriation for the judicial ex- 
penses for the year ending June 30, 1870, was pending, Car- 
penter was again active in his efforts to secure an increase in 
the salaries of the various judges, especially those of the 
United States circuit judges, whose expenses for travel and 
hotel fare were heavy. He called attention to the fact that 
Judge Curtis left the supreme bench because the salary of 
$6,000 was but a small portion of what he could earn at the 
bar; that the children of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (who 
labored on the bench almost thirty years) were almost beg- 
gars, and that England, by paying liberal salaries, secured 
the best talent within her borders for the bench. Senator 
Conkling objected to the proposed increase, upon the ground 
that all the judges of a given class should not be paid equally. 
Carpenter demonstrated quickly how invidious that would 
be, applying the principle to members of the senate so as to 
make a senator from New York receive $5,000, and one 
from Wisconsin $50 per year. He declared: 

An act of congress providing that no man should be a judge unless he 
had a certain income would raise a mutiny in this country ; and yet what 
IS the practical difference between such a law and one fixing the salary so 
low that a man can not take the office unless he has that income? You 
produce the same result. * * * The feeble voice of the constitution is 
. heard declaring that the military shall be in strict subordination to the civil 
power; and yet we are paying the general commanding our armies $16,000, 
and to the chief justice of the supreme court of the United States, the head 
of the judicial department of the government, $6,000! The annual appro- 
priations for the army and navy are about $40,000,000. This does not dis- 
turb our serenity, but we stand appalled at the idea of appropriating a fifth 
part of it for the administration of justice. * * * The proposition to 
increase the salary of our chief justice to only two-thirds of the salary of 
the commanding general of the army makes senators turn pale! 
24 



37© LIFE OP' CARPENTER. 

The bill passed and increased the salary of the chief jus- 
tice to $8,500, and of the associate justices to $S,ooo, and 
made advances in other judicial emoluments. In this as well 
as numerous other matters undertaken in behalf of the judi- 
ciary, he received hundreds of letters of thanks from all por- 
tions of the country. 

CLAIMS. 

Carpenter opposed the passage of a bill to prohibit any 
clerk of any department from appearing as agent or attor- 
ney for the prosecution of any claim against the government 
within three years after leaving the civil service. Many just 
claims are defeated because the claimants can not secure the 
evidence possessed by the departments, and the bill was 
presented for the purpose of preventing clerks from communi- 
cating such information. Carpenter regarded such legisla- 
tion as dishonest, maintaining that no facility for doing exact 
justice should be denied to any one by the government or its 
clerks. 

When the claim of Susan A. Shelby, of Mississippi, was 
before the senate, Carpenter expressed his astonishment and 
indignation at the apparent reckless tendency of congress to 
pay every demand made by the south. Mrs. Shelby's cot- 
ton had been seized by the confederates and appropriated 
to their use, but subsequently it was captured from them by 
the Union forces and turned over to the treasury depart- 
ment. He held that every person who could lay a claim be- 
fore congress would be found, upon -prwia facie evidence, 
to have been loyal, and the only thing to do was to defeat 
them all, at least for the time being. He exclaimed: 

If this claim is to be passed I am in favor of a general amnesty, a gen- 
eral bill to indemnify everybody south of Mason and Dixon's line for 
everything they suffered between i86i and 1S65, and that will end the 
whole business, reach the same result, and save all the debate and time 
spent in congress. 



FOUR GEORGIA SENATORS. 37 1 

FOUR GEORGIA SENATORS. 

One of Carpenter's speeches which attracted marked at- 
tention among the members of the bench and bar was that 
on admitting the senators from Georgia. On June 25, 1868, 
congress passed an act prescribing the terms upon which the 
southern states might re-enter the Union. Georgia com- 
plied with the terms, with other states, on July 22, 1868. 
General Meade, in command of Georgia, issued a proclama- 
tion declaring that state had complied with all the provisions, 
the legislature had ratified the act of June 25th, Governor Bul- 
lock had been inaugurated, and that the state was entitled to 
representation in congress. The legislature thereupon elected 
Joshua Hill and Homer V. M. Miller as United States 
senators. 

A few months later the colored members of the legis- 
lature were driven out and their democratic opponents, the 
minority candidates, were admitted to seats. Congress, in 
December, 1869, passed an act commanding the governor to 
convene the legislature as it met in July, 1868, admitting the 
elected colored members who had been forcibly excluded 
and excluding their minority white opponents, and then to 
reorganize the body. This was done in January, 1870, and 
the reorganized body then elected Farrow and Whitely to 
represent the state in the United States senate. Hill, Miller, 
Farrow and Whitely presented their credentials and prayed 
for admission. 

The judiciary committee decided that Hill and Miller were 
entitled to seats. When the report was under consideration, 
a motion was made to substitute the names of Farrow and 
Whitely for those of Hill and Miller, and on this question 
Carpenter made his argument. The friends of the former 
contestants contended that the legislature, as organized in 
1868, was illegal; that therefore its acts were void, and that 
the only persons elected as senators entitled to seats were 
those chosen after the reorganization in 1870. Carpenter 
made a clear and powerful legal argument to show that every 



3/2 



LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



act of the legislature of 1868 was legal, and then proceeded 
to rend in tatters the claims of Farrow and Whitely. 

All the state officers and judges appointed by the legisla- 
ture as organized in 1868 had acted and were still acting as 
legal officials, and all laws passed had stood unchallenged by 
the courts; therefore, the senators then chosen must be the 
legal senators. He punctured all of Farrow's and Whitely's 
claims, when he showed that the former was appointed at- 
torney-general of Georgia at the same time Hill and Miller 
were chosen senators, and by the same legislature, and that 
he for two years thereafter exercised the duties of the office, 
although now he claimed the right to a seat in the senate, 
instead of Hill, because the legislature was illegal. Carpen- 
ter said Farrow evidently thought the old legislature was 
legal enough to make him attorney-general of Georgia, but 
not legal enough to elect, at the same time, Joshua Hill as 
United States senator. Hill was admitted; also, soon after, 
Miller. 

THE IRON-CLAD OATH. 

A still aoler constitutional argument was made by Car- 
penter in February, when Miller presented himself to be 
sworn in. It was proposed to compel him to take the iron- 
clad oath, prescribed by congress July 2, 1862, in which the 
affiant declares he has " never voluntarily borne arms against 
the United States, or given aid, countenance, counsel or en- 
couragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto." 
Miller objected to this oath, as he had, as a physician and 
surgeon, attended the sick and wounded in the confederate 
army, and therefore had thus given aid to the enemies 
of the United States. Carpenter sustained this objection. 
He argued that to compel Miller to take this oath would 
either make him a perjurer, or exclude him from the sen- 
ate, and that that was infficting punishment without 
indictment, trial and conviction first had, which was uncon- 
stitutional. Morton interjected that the constitution saved a 
man from trial without an indictment, but did not save him 
from punishment. This logic Carpenter ridiculed in a very 



SMOTHERED MEASURES. 373 

sharp manner, and, after answering all the points of the 
opposition upon strictly legal grounds, he quoted the procla- 
mation of general amnesty issued by President Johnson 
December 25, 1868,^ which granted to all engaged in the 
Rebellion, except those under indictment and trial, a full and 
free pardon for the offense of treason against the United 
States. This, of course, applied to Miller, and rendered it 
impossible to compel him to suffer by reason of refusing to 
take the iron-clad oath. It was then, as the only thing left 
to do, contended that this proclamation was unconstitutional, 
but Carpenter quoted the similar proclamations of general 
amnesty by Presidents Washington and Adams, and of all 
the kings and sovereigns of Europe, and demonstrated that 
the pardoning power resided safely and without limit, except 
as to impeachment, in the President, by virtue of the consti- 
tution, and that Miller had, therefore, been fully and freely 
pardoned. 

All of this was incontrovertible, and Miller was allowed, 
by a vote of twenty-eight to twenty, to take his seat upon 
subscribing to the oath ordinarily administered to members 
of congress. The argument made by Carpenter in support 
of his position was one of conceded ability, and its soundness 
was unqualifiedly alleged by members of the various federal 

courts. 

SMOTHERED MEASURES. 

Carpenter presented several bills to amend the bankrupt 
laws in the interest of creditors and to prevent fraud. The 
last one was reported without amendment from the judiciary 
committee, March 3, 1871, one day before adjournment and 
during a temporary illness of its author, and so was allowed 
to die. It was during this illness that the resolution requiring 
a report on the authority of congress to regulate railway 
transportation between the states, which was particularly in 
his charge, was smothered, or disposed of without action. 

IThe proclamation that Carpenter generally referred to as "Johnson's 
Christmas carols," because it was issued on the 25th of December. 



374 ^^^^ OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS. 

During the first session of the forty-second congress, which 
convened March 4, 187 1, Carpenter took but little part in the 
debates. He opposed the bill proposing to organize a com- 
mission with clerks, stenographers and attorneys, to examine 
and report upon the constantly-increasing number of southern 
claims. His reasons were that such a course would be urged 
in future congresses as a partial recognition of those claims, 
and all that remained was to pay them. He cited the judg- 
ment of the supreme court in a similar case, to the effect that 
a commission organized by the proper authority to make such 
an investigation and report was semi-judicial, and its awards 
binding. He said in closing his argument against the bill: 

Here is a drag-net thrown over this whole subject; here is a bag opened, 
into which this whole ocean of claims is to be plunged, and they are to be 
dragged in here and put upon the basis of judgments rendered against the 
United States by a tribunal of its own creation. I never will vote for the 
bill with such a clause in it. 

While the bill " to protect life and property in the south " 
was pending, it received strong opposition from the democrats 
under Thurman's leadership, upon the ground that congress 
could not, under the constitution, legislate affirmatively to 
protect the individual in his rights of person and of property. 
In his argument under the fourteenth amendment Carpenter 
maintained that congress could so legislate, saying: 

I think therein is one of the fundamental, one of the great, the tremen- 
dous revolutions effected in our government by the amended constitution. 
It gives congress affirmative power to protect the rights of the citizen, 
whereas before no such right was given, * * * and the only remedy 
was a judicial one when the case arose. 

This measure, one of the most important ever crystallized 
into a statute for the protection of the colored people against 
the atrocious scourges and butcheries by ku klux klans and 



SPECIAL SESSION — A STORMY PERIOD. 375 

similar organizations, was in many ways perfected and 
strengthened by Carpenter. His services in that respect will 
never cease to be felt by the freedmen. 

SPECIAL SESSION — A STORMY PERIOD. 

On the loth day of May, 187 1, President Grant convened 
the senate in special session for the purpose of confirming 
the Treaty of Washington, made by the commissioners 
of the United States and Great Britain. Carpenter was the 
prominent figure of this well-remembered session, and in 
following unswervingly what he believed to be his line of 
duty, laid the foundation for one of the most vicious and 
wanton attacks ever directed by an unbridled and angry 
press upon any man of equal prominence in America. 

In considering treaties (except those made with the Indian 
tribes) the dehberations and debates of the senate of the 
United States are to be in secret, and the treaties are to re- 
main secret until after they have been confirmed. On the 
morning of the convocation of the senate, the treaty under 
consideration was published in full in the New York Tribune. 
Either a senator, or an employe of the senate, or some at- 
tache of the state department, had violated his trust, else the 
Tribune could not have obtained a copy of the treaty. There- 
fore, in order to discover who had been derelict, a committee, 
consisting of Carpenter, Charles Sumner, Roscoe Conkling, 
Garrett Davis and Lyman Trumbull, was appointed to enter 
upon an investigation of the matter. 

The two Washington correspondents of the Tribune were 
summoned before the committee. They said they had full 
knowledge of who was guilty of divulging the treaty, but 
refused to give any other or further testimony. This fact 
the committee reported to the senate, and through Carpenter 
recommended that the contumacious witnesses be committed 
to jail for contempt. On this the senate quivered and split. 
The newspapers had begun to abuse and ridicule its leaders, 
and many of its members had received letters saying the 



37^ LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

press was a unit on the pending matter, and that whoever 
should persist in the attempt to compel the correspondents 
to divulge their professional secrets, would earn the eternal 
ill-will of the newspapers. Carpenter received numerous let- 
ters of this class, some of which gave warning that he must 
at once drop the investigation or the press " would never rest 
until it had ruined him." 

Those letters, which seemed to have had the desired effect 
upon nearly all save Carpenter, were referred to and exhibited 
by him on the floor of the senate to show by indubitable proof 
the disreputable methods of the press. He declared that he 
did not believe a man could be ruined for doing right and 
his duty, and boldly exposed all the threats and infamies 
of his newspaper assailants. He alleged, on the floor of 
the senate, that he had concluded the publication of the 
treaty was made through a senator, and that if the com- 
mittee could be left unhampered, that fact would be fully 
established. But the senate, quailing under the lash of 
the correspondents, and without the moral courage to sustain 
Carpenter in what they themselves had ordered him to do, 
voted to nominally confine the recusant witnesses in a com- 
mittee-room, instead of the common jail, and feed them at 
public expense until they should purge themselves of con- 
tempt. 

He showed how futile such a course would be, alleging 
that the men would never answer under such circumstances, 
and the senate would only be driven down into still deeper 
contempt. Every word of this proved true, for after " nom- 
inally " keeping the men in the best committee-room in the 
capitol several days, during which their continued newspaper 
assaults on the senators became fuller of malignity and false- 
hood, they were discharged, and the questions were never 
answered. " Two reporters," Carpenter then stated, " had 
blockaded, maligned, bulldozed, brought into public con- 
tempt, and finally put to rout, the senate of the United 
States." 



SPECIAL SESSION A STORMY PERIOD. 377 

While the resolution to discharge the correspondents was 
pending, and which he opposed as an evidence of cowardice 
and defeat, Carpenter made some remarks that confirmed 
the determination of the press " never to rest until it had 
ruined him." Among other things, he said that while he had 
never been able to secure a committee-room for his public 
business, and in which to meet his constituents, " These con- 
tumacious correspondents had luxuriated in the finest apart- 
ments in the structure, with attendants to usher in the 
sympathizing statesmen who desired audience with them." 
Also: 

Why, sir, the other day a senator was in the restaurant below taking his 
lunch, when the doors were suddenly thrown open and the servants entered 
with imposing ceremony, whirling the largest table into the center of the 
room, and covering it with a cloth, in imitation of the fine linen with which 
Dives was furnished when enjoying his " good things in this world." The 
senator, astonished at such elaborate preparation, inquired what it all meant. 
He was informed that the hour had arrived when the Washington corre- 
spondents of the New York Tribune^ with their families, were to dine. The 
senator rose from his unfinished lunch on a naked table and slunk away 
with the humility that should ever characterize a senator in the august pres- 
ence of the press. 

Then, turning his attention to the man who was upholding 
and urging on the correspondents, he said: 

The New York Tribune is an alias for Horace Greeley, a gentleman for 
whom I cherish the highest respect. He has shown me many acts of kind- 
ness (for in this cruel world justice is sometimes kindness), which I shall 
never forget. But I desire to say that, during the period of this investiga- 
tion, while this newspaper has been filled with articles about equally com- 
pounded of folly and falsehood, all inspired by malice, the New York 
Tribune has been away from home, delivering addresses of conciliation in 
the south, in obedience to the impulses of his own good heart. Still the 
paper goes on, livmg and moving under the impetus given it by his intel- 
lect, his wisdom and his great standing with the press and American people; 
and this, notwithstanding it has been left to the management of Whitelaw 
Reid,a fop and frivolous pretender, of whom a contemporary journal re- 
cently had the following paragraph : 

"Whitelaw Reid was seen on the streets again yesterday with men's 
clothes on. Where's the police? " 



378 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Thus the wrath of Whitelaw Reid was added to the 
malice of the underlings. For several months, and in fact 
for years thereafter, whenever Carpenter moved from one 
city to another, made a public address, conducted a suit, or 
in any way appeared so plainly before the public as to be 
sighted by the sleuths who had sworn to " ruin him," the 
flood-gates were lifted anew and their vile accumulations 
were poured forth, poisoning the public atmosphere and scat- 
tering a pestilence of falsehood among the people. This 
was continued until Carpenter would have no intercourse, 
either professional or otherwise, with the newspaper fra- 
ternity, except with a few whose honor he had tried. He 
entertained no ill-feeling toward them, he often said, but 
could not trust them. 

While, as a general rule, the journalists of the country 
comprise an honorable class, the public begins to understand 
that many of the roving Bohemians and correspondents are 
depraved and disreputable jackals, almost without responsi- 
bility to society, man, God or the law, who suck a liveli- 
hood from public characters by blackmailing the lions and 
puffing the weevils. 

It is impossible to conceive how any person could be made 
to suffer more unjustly than Carpenter suffered by and 
through this investigation. He was becoming not only an 
influential and powerful leader in the senate, but a popular 
figure before the public. The old senatorial leaders — or 
some of them, — jealous of his increasing power and popu- 
larity, which had already begun to out-reach and out-shine 
them, contrived the villainy — knowing his fearlessness and 
thoroughness in all undertakings — of putting him at the 
head of an investigating committee which they knew would 
exasperate and call down the venom of the press. When 
this had been accomplished, some of them carried their dis- 
honor to the extent of actively aiding the correspondents in 
the work of destroying Carpenter, even going so far as to 
violate their senatorial oaths by disclosing to the reporters 



SPECIAL SESSION — A STORMY PERIOD. 379 

what he had said in executive (secret) session. A mild par- 
agraph from an indignant speech by Senator Nye will illus- 
trate how the scheme was carried out: 

Why did you send my friend from New York [Mr, Conkling] and my 
friend from Wisconsin [Mr. Carpenter] out to gather anything but sheep's 
wool? Why did you send them to feed on tlie vapor of nothingness, while 
you yourself were feasting upon the milder and more nutritious nutriment 
of the support of the public press? Why do you start others out on this 
forlorn hope and keep your column back? Sir, if the honorable senator 
from Massachusetts thought this investigation ought not to have been had, 
why did he not say so when it was proposed? Here he is, with twenty 
years of ripe experience in this body ; when he looks around he can see no 
man who came here with him. Why did he not rise and tell me, one, in 
the classic language of the Tribune^ whose senatorial pin-feathers are just 
cutting — why did he not tell me that this rule was a farce and a humbug, 
and all wrong? He did not. He voted to have this examination held, and 
I, child-like, followed him. 

Now, when the danger of paper bullets comes, he says it was all a hum- 
bug from the start. The senator has got us, as my friend his colleague 
says, into a scrape. 

The investigation occupied almost the entire attention of 
the senate during the special session, and was the principal 
theme of newspaper and personal discussion throughout the 
country. The illegitimate results of Carpenter's fearless 
course in the matter were not in years fully purged from the 
public mind. But his name will be familiar to the readers of 
American history as long as the English language shall last, 
while those who rode into temporary notoriety by their 
revengeful accusations against him have already sunk into 
that oblivion which their infamy so richly deserved. 



380 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS — SECOND SESSION. 

The second session of the forty-second congress, which met 
December 4, 187 1, was one of considerable length and im- 
portance, and Carpenter was an active and influential partici- 
pant in its proceedings. 

When the question of procuring a site for the new custom- 
house at Chicago was pending, he maintained that it was 
not judicious for the government to condemn property for 
public buildings through the instrumentality of state legisla- 
tion, as, in his opinion, congress had the power to exercise 
the right of eminent domain in all such cases. 

The committee on foreign relations reported a bill allowing 
the Japanese government to send six students to the United 
States Military Academy at West Point, and providing that 
the rules and regulations of the institution might be sus- 
pended from operating upon them. Carpenter declared it 
would not do to establish " a foreign aristocracy inside the 
school," whose chief charm and benefit arose from the fact 
that in it the rich and the poor met on a common level. 
Through his efforts the bill was so amended that the Jap- 
anese could only enter upon the same footing (except as to 
scholarship) as Americans. 

GILT-EDGE VAGARIES. 

He was thoroughly opposed to the various schemes and 
experiments called " civil service reform " which occupied a 
great deal of attention. He declared from the first that 
" these gilt-edge vagaries will prove a humbug," and intro- 
duced this resolution: 

Whereas, The constitution of the United States requires the President 
to nominate, and, by and with the consent of the senate, to appoint all offi- 
cers of the United States whose appointments are not in said constitution 



GILT-EDGE VAGARIES. 38 1 

otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law, subject to 
the power of congress by law to vest the appointment of such inferior 
officers as they may think proper in the President alone, in the courts of 
law, or in the heads of departments: Therefore, 

Resolved, That any law or regulation which is designed to relieve the 
President, and, in the cases pertaining to them, the courts of law or heads 
of departments, of the full responsibility of such nominations or appoint- 
ments, is in violation of the constitution. 

President Grant had appointed a commission which re- 
ported a set of rules for appointing to federal positions, 
without regard to politics, onl}^ such persons as could pass a 
prescribed examination. Carpenter opposed this with great 
force. He ridiculed the idea that if the proposed " commis- 
sion " should advertise for applicants to be collector of the 
port of New York, such men as A. T. Stewart, Marshall 
O. Roberts, Henry G. Stebbins, etc., would go to Washing- 
ton and submit to a ridiculous examination in non-essentials. 
Such men, he said, would make splendid collectors, but only 
" adventurers and men of no condition or importance " would 
go to the examinations. He also submitted that any scheme 
to divide the legitimate fruits of victory vvith the enemy 
" would defeat any party that should adopt it," and that as 
a general amnesty bill was about to be passed, giving the 
late rebels the privilege of voting and holding office, it would 
be party suicide to pass a civil service reform bill which 
would allow the enemies of the colored people, of recon- 
struction, of civil rights, of the election laws and of the 
policy of the administration, to be put in office to execute the 
laws they had hated and defied. He said: 

If a person who opposes the policy of the government is to be appointed 
instead of one who supports it, provided he can pass a better examination 
upon irrelevant and non-essential subjects, is any man sanguine enough to 
believe that the acts of congress will be faithfully executed and that the 
rights of four or five millions of colored people in the southern states will 
be protected against overwhelming numbers determined to trample them 
under foot? 

He also opposed the scheme because it would shut out 
from an equal chance at the federal patronage all maimed 



382 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

soldiers who might be capable of performing numerous 
duties, "yet could not satisfactorily pass an absurd ordeal 
concocted by visionary reformers." As the report of the 
" commission " declared the method of making appointments 
then in vogue was corrupt, Carpenter asked who could ex- 
pect a commission of six or seven could be more honest than 
the President, the heads of departments and the three hun- 
dred members of congress, who had the appointing power 
in their hands. He voted against the measure and against 
the appropriation for the civil service commission, and later 
in the session introduced an amendment to the appropriation 
bill repealing the civil service law, but it was defeated by a 
vote of twenty-nine to twenty-one. The " commission," 
however, was ineffective and short-lived. 

THE CHICAGO FIRE 

A bill was presented by the senators from Illinois to relieve 
the sufferers by the great fire of 187 1 in Chicago. Carpen- 
ter offered an amendment providing for similar relief to 
Peshtigo, Marinette, Minnekaunee,Rosiere, and other places 
in Wisconsin destroyed by fires at about the same time. He 
was thereupon classed as " an enemy to Chicago," and was 
vigorously attacked as such by the Chicago papers. In sup- 
porting his amendment, which was defeated, he said: 

The fire at Chicago fell upon property — a loss that capital can repair, — 
while it is estimated by those best informed that in seven counties of Wis- 
consin over twelve hundred persons lost their lives, so that families were 
left, in many instances, without father or husband, left destitute upon farms 
without houses, fences or utensils, and in many instances the soil has been 
destroyed b}' the fire to two or three inches below the surface. These are 
suflferings which capital can not immediately repair. I protest against be- 
ing classed as an enemy of Chicago or an enemy of this bill because I 
suggest to the senate that I will move to extend the relief intended by this 
bill to embrace my own constituents, who suftcred at the same time and 
from the same causes. 

The bill proposed to remit the duties on all goods imported 
for the purpose of, and used in, rebuilding Chicago. He 



Sumner's civil rights bill. 383 

voted against this as contravening the constitution, which 
declares that " all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform 
throughout the United States." He also showed how the 
bill was not a measure of relief for the real sufferers, for 
merchants who lost their all could not, under it, renew their 
stocks free of duty, nor would those who, being poor and 
unable to rebuild their burned shanties, be relieved in the 
remotest degree. " But," he said, " William B. Astor may 
go to-morrow to Chicago and bu}^ up all the lots of the 
poor at such prices as they may be forced to take, and build 
up palaces where the sufierers were unable to erect shanties; 
and thus would the bill be of vast pecuniary benefit to this 
nabob, but afford no relief to the poor. It is unjust." 

SUMNER'S CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 

At the opening of the session Charles Sumner presented 
an amnesty and civil rights bill. It proposed amnesty to the 
participants in the Rebellion and protection of the colored 
men in their legal rights. Carpenter opposed the clause 
which proposed to regulate by federal law the qualification 
of jurors in state courts and the one declaring Negroes 
should be excluded from no church or cemetery, as unconsti- 
tutional. He also opposed an unconditional and unlimited 
amnesty to rebels, saying it was " a bill to re-enforce the dem- 
ocratic party," and that "within twelve months after its 
passage Jefferson Davis would be returned to a seat in the 
senate chamber." He privately requested Sumner to re- 
move these objections from the bill, but was met with a 
refusal. He therefore opposed the measure with consider- 
able force, and once more kindled the anger of Sumner, who 
again arraigned him for having called the declaration of in- 
dependence " a revolutionary pronunciamento," and all the 
old animosities of that occasion were revived. Carpenter 
thought congress had no power to legislate to control church 
and religious organizations, but declared that " every colored 
man should have equal rights in the public schools, and from 



384 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

that point he hoped the republican party would never back 
one inch." He further contended: 

Let it also be remembered that as soon as it be conceded that the political 
power may intervene to promote the interests of true religion the ground- 
work of religious freedom is surrendered." No government ever interfered, 
except in the interest of what it assumed to be the interest of true religion. 
It is upon this assumption alone that different sects have persecuted each 
other. Fagots have always been lighted round the martyr to shed the 
light of truth upon heresy and error. I fully concur with the senator that 
any church which denies its rights, ceremonies and sacraments to any true 
believer on the ground of color dishonors the Master in whose name it pro- 
fesses to act. But the precise question is, whether the senator and myself, 
being in congress, have any constitutional power to enforce our theories 
upon those who may conscientiously differ with us. 

He then proposed this amendment: 

Whoever, being a corporation or natural person and owner, or in charge 
of any public inn or of any place of public amusement or entertainment for 
which a license from any legal authoritv is required, or of any line of stage- 
coaches, railroad, or other means of public carriage of passengers or freight, 
or of any cemetery or other benevolent institution, or any public school 
supported at public expense or by endowment for public use, shall make 
any distinction as to admission or accommodation therein of any citizen ol 
the United States because of race, color, nationality or previous condition 
of servitude, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not less than $500 
or more than $5,000 for each offense, to be recovered by information 
filed by the district attorney in any court having jurisdiction, upon the com- 
plaint of any person injured, one-half to the use of the United States, and 
one-half to the use ot the complainant. 

A few New England senators, who felt bound to follow 
Sumner, voted with him and the democrats against this 
amendment and defeated it. Carpenter continued his etTorts, 
however, until by a vote of thirty-four to twenty-nine the 
words "churches" and "church organizations" were stricken 
from the bill. He then proposed and secured the adoption 
by the senate of an amendment providing " that every discrim- 
ination against any person on accoxmt of color by the use of 
the word ' white,' in any law, statute, ordinance or regulation, 
is hereby repealed and annulled." 



NOURISHING HIS ENEMIES. 385 

LESSER MATTERS. 

At this session Carpenter secured the passage of a bill 
allowing that giant corporation, the Chicago, Milwaukee 
& St. Paul Railway Company, to build a railway bridge 
across the Mississippi river at La Crosse, Wisconsin. 

Alert, as he always was, to strengthen and improve the ju- 
diciary and facilitate the administration of justice, he presented 
and urged through the senate a bill allowing the President 
to accept the resignation of any judge, thus retiring him 
upon the usual pay, who should be disabled before arriving 
at the age of seventy years. Otherwise a judge unable to 
perform his duties at fifty, might, being poor, hold his seat 
until seventy, thus preventing the appointment of a successor 
and blockading justice in his court. The measure failed in 
the house. 

When, in discussing the legislative appropriation bill, he 
arrived at the clause providing for the establishment of a 
bureau of education. Carpenter opposed it as unconstitutional. 
He declared that under the constitution congress had no more 
power to establish the bureau of agriculture or a bureau of 
education than a bureau of boots and shoes, and voted against 
the measure. 

NOURISHING HIS ENEMIES. 

It was a matter of common fame that for years Carpenter 
and Andrew G. Miller, judge of the United States district 
court for the eastern district of Wisconsin, were so little in 
love with each other as not to be on speaking terms. In fact 
Carpenter never had such a long-standing disagreement with 
any person as with Judge Miller. Therefore, when Senator 
Trumbull ofTered to amend the appropriation bill so as to in- 
crease the pay of United States district judges to $5,000 per 
year. Carpenter was given a more conspicuous opportunity 
than he had ever before met of demonstrating his lofty views 
of public action — his utter contempt for personal influence 
in proceeding with the duties of senator. Usually the public 
25 



/ 



386 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

has no means of knowing the motive or the power that con- 
trols the acts and votes of a public official ; but when a senator 
is seen to vote to enlarge the salary, to increase the strength 
and nourishment of his long-time and well-known enemy, 
whereas, by making with dozens of his fellows the plea of 
economy, he could so easily have avoided it, all must under- 
stand that he is a statesman far above warping or guiding 
his career by personal likes and dislikes. In advocacy of 
Trumbull's amendment he said: 

Some senators have alluded to and lauded the judge of the district in 
which they reside ; from which it might be supposed that they were actu- 
ated in voting this increase of salary by motives of friendship to or admira- 
tion for the present incumbent. I am not at all influenced in that way. 
The judge of the district in which I reside is not a friend of mine, and I am 
not a friend of his. He thinks I am imfit to be a senator, and I think he is 
unfit to be a judge. In court I pay him the deference due to the office of 
judge, and he shows me the respect due to a member of the bar; but out of 
court neither recognizes the other. But, sir, I know the amount of labor 
performed by him, the number of cases he decides, the time spent by him 
in holding court, and I know that $5,000 per annum is even less than a just 
compensation for his services, and I should hold myself entirely unfit for a 
seat in this body if I were capable of doing injustice to him because he is 
not my friend, or because he is my unrelenting and bitter enemy. By re- 
fusing to vote a suitable salary to him I should be guilty of doing toward 
him what I think he has often done toward me — injustice. We ought to 
vote a salary for the office, without regard to the merits of the accidental 
present incumbent. 

Five thousand dollars a year is not more than proper compensation for the 
seryices of any man fit to be a district judge. And without providing an 
adequate salary you can not at all times secure the services of a competent 
man, except from the wealthy men of the country, who might be willing 
to accept the office without any salary whatever. This would be closing 
the door of preferment to the poor, and surrendering the bench to the rich; 
which I am opposed to, not onlv because being a poor man I sympathize 
with that class, but because such a policy would be anti-republican, and a 
practical surrender of the bench to the rich 

VOID VOTES DEFINED. 

Undoubtedly the most profound legal argument made by 
Carpenter during this session was upon whether Joseph C. 
Abbott was entitled to admission as a senator from the state 



VOID VOTES DEFINED. 387 

of South Carolina. A majority of the legislature of that 
stale voted to elect Vance as United States senator, knowing 
him to be ineligible, but supposing, as they alleged, that his 
disabilities would be removed by congress in time to- allow 
him to take his seat. The balance, a minority of the legis- 
lature, voted for Abbott, who was eligible, and he appeared 
and claimed a seat. The majority of the committee on priv- 
ileges and elections submitted a report against, while Car- 
penter submitted a report in favor of giving him a seat. In 
support of this report he made two speeches of great com- 
pactness and strength, filling over fifty columns of the Con- 
gressional Record,, and containing a very large number of 
authorities and decisions, European and American, sustaining 
his position. He assumed the ground that those who voted 
for a person known to them to be ineligible, while others 
were voting for one known to all to be eligible, threw away 
their votes; and that thereby the eligible person, though not 
receiving an actual majority of the material votes cast, legally 
received all of them, and was elected. He presented, in 
support of this theory, a long array of decisions, none oi 
which the opposing senators pretended to controvert or 
answer. A quotation from Lord Dunnan's decision, in the 
English Reports, in the case of Gosling vs. Veley, as follows, 
will illustrate the tenor of all of them : 

Whenever an elector, before voting, receives due notice that a particular 
candidate is disqualified, and yet will do nothing but tender his vote for 
him, he must be taken vohmtanly to abstain from exercising his franchise; 
and therefore, however strongly he may in fact dissent, he must be taken 
in law to assent to the opposing and qualified candidate. 

The principal argument offered against this was that the 
senate was a law unto itself — not bound by any decisions 
made by courts and other " outside " bodies. Carpenter was 
disgusted at this style of argument, and in closing said : 

I felt that I had a duty to perform in relation to this question, and in my 
feeble way I have performed it. * * * I am as thoroughly convinced 
as I ever was in regard to any legal proposition that Abbott is entitled to 
his seat, and shall vote accordingly, even if compelled to vote alone. 

His proposition received ten votes and was defeated. 



88 • LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



O 



CONFUSED ON THE TARIFF. 

1 here had been, as there always is on this question, some 
extraordinary debates on the tariff bill, and when, with a 
clause providing for free tea and coffee, it was put to a vote, 
Carpenter exposed the absurdities of the various arguments 
by asking unanimous consent to put a question to the chair. 
This being granted, he asked: 

I have been so much confused by the debate on points of order, and so 
much more by the information that has recently been volunteered to me, 
that I want to put a question to the chair, an answer to which will enlighten 
me. If you were here in my place, and wanted to vote for free tea and 
coffee, how would you vote? 

He voted to place tea and coffee on the free list. 

CLEARING OUT COBWEBS. 

Several senators presented bills to " further the adminis- 
tration of justice, but Carpenter's was decided to be much 
more clear and comprehensive than the others, and was 
passed. It is chapter CCLV, Vol. 17, Laws of the United 
States, and is a very important statute. It provides for tak- 
ing appeals to the United States supreme court; that con- 
victs imprisoned by the United States courts for non-payment 
of fines may escape by taking the "poor man's oath; " that 
when several persons are indicted together the jury may 
convict one or more of them and acquit or disagree as to the 
balance; and section five conforms the "practice, pleadings, 
etc.," of federal courts " in other than equity and admiralty 
causes " to the " practice, etc., of the courts of record of 
the state in which such United States circuit or district courts 
may be held, any rule of court to the contrary notwithstand- 
ing." No act of congress was ever a greater boon to young 
attorneys. It cleared the ancient cobwebs, intricacies and 
arbitrary modes of procedure from the federal courts, which 
in many instances had been so complicated and unpleasant 
as to greatly embarrass younger practitioners. The act con- 
tains sixteen sections, every one of which is important. 



THE KU KLUX ACT. 389 

In discussing a bill amendator}' of the act chartering the 
Texas Pacific Railway, Carpenter declared he had not the 
slightest doubt that congress had power to construct a rail- 
road from Washington to San Francisco, or between any 
other two points, and that under the fifth amendment to 
the constitution the right of eminent domain might be exer- 
cised in condemning private property for its right-of-wav. 
Although this doctrine, which had for years been entertained 
by him, was then strongly combated, it is now generally ad- 
mitted. 

THE KU KLUX ACT. 

The " ku klux act," so-called, passed by congress April 
20, 187 1, ended with a proviso declaring its provisions 
should " not be in force after the end of the next regular 
session of congress." Therefore, in May, 1872, the question 
of whether this law should be extended arose. Carpenter 
contended, against the democrats, that the law was constitu- 
tional and that it should be re-enacted. He admitted that 
its passage would raise a clamor and uproar from Maine to 
California in the presidential campaign then approaching, 
because it gave the President power to suspend the writ of 
habeas corpus, a provision the democrats solemnly declared 
would " take from the people their liberties and plunge the 
country into hopeless slavery." He said this cry about en- 
croaching upon the liberties of the people, false in fact 
though its authors knew it to be, would arouse the preju- 
dices and passions of the masses even to the extent, perhaps, 
of defeating General Grant. He argued : 

But, Mr. President, we are here, accidentally as politicians, ofBcially as 
statesmen. We are here as senators. We are here charged with a solemn 
duty of governmental administration, and we have no right to imperil the 
peace of a single county of this Union for the purpose of carrying a presi- 
dential election. The passage of this law last year, beyond all question 
suspended, suppressed the outrages that were disgracing the south and dis- 
gracing our land. The mere enunciation of the will of congress did it. 
It was not necessary to employ force. In most cases the mere announce- 
ment of congressional purpose on this subject, and the fact that General 



390 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Grant knew how to enforce the law by means of the army and navy, pro- 
duced peace throughout the land. If this act is renewed peace will con- 
tinue. There will be no occasion, I trust and believe, for putting the act in 
operation anywhere. Then no harm will CQpie. But I also believe — and 
I believe it, not because I think it is for the interests of the republican party 
to believe it, but even against my judgment of political policy — if this act 
were to be withdrawn these outrages in certain localities would be repeated; 
I believe that helpless innocence, the poor, the lowly and the humble, in 
certain localities, would be given over again to this brute violence, this crim- 
inality, this midnight riot of violence and wickedness, the details of which 
sicken any man to consider. Sir, I believe I understand myself when I say 
that if I knew the passage of this act would save the lives of innocent peo- 
ple in one county, would preserve the peace in one state, and yet result in 
tiie defeat of General Grant in this campaign, it would be my duty as a 
senator to regard our constituents, to preserve that public peace, to spread 
over our people, so long as we are in power, the protection which is em- 
bodied by the«waving of our national flag. 

This was a bill of far greater importance than the people 
of any generation subsequent to the days of ku-kluxism can 
possibly appreciate. Carpenter mnst have so regarded it, or, 
loving and respecting General Grant as he did, and deeply 
solicitous for his re-election to the presidency as he was, he 
would not have voted or spoken for a measure that seemed 
likely to jeopardize that re-election. It was simply one of the 
more important of the many occasions in which Carpenter 
completely laid aside his friends, personal desires and party 
weal for the benefit of justice and humanity. 

A TOWERING HUMBUG. 

Toward the close of the session it was proposed by Senator 
Sawyer to appoint a commission of three, with clerks, stenog- 
raphers, etc., to " investigate the hours and wages of labor, 
and of the division of the joint profits of labor and capital." 
Although there was hardly a public man of his time who felt 
so deeply and spoke so earnestly for the common people, for 
the laboring classes, as Carpenter, yet he opposed this scheme 
as " a humbug of towering dimensions." He asked what con- 
gress could do provided it should be discovered that laborers 



A TOWERING HUMBUG. 39I 

received only one-half the compensation they deserved or de- 
sired; under what clause of the constitution power was 
derived to investigate the profits of business and labor, any 
more than the condition of marital felicity throughout the 
Union, the amount of profanity indulged in, or why men did 
not pay their debts. He contended against the bill at some 
length and voted against it. 



392 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

SALES OF ARMS TO FRENX^H AGENTS. 

! 

That which rendered this session of the forty-second con- 
gress particularly memorable was the debate on the sales of 
arms to alleged French agents during the Franco-Prussian 
war. Carpenter was the conspicuous and popular actor in 
this able yet angry controversy, and won in it such honors as 
must, without any other achievement, have rendered his sen- 
atorial career imperishable. Charles Sumner, being engaged 
in a quarrel with President Grant, presented a preamble and 
resolution reciting that the United States had violated the 
neutrality laws by selling arms to Remington & Sons, agents 
of the French government; that there had been fraud in re- 
porting and accounting for the proceeds of those sales, and 
that the United States had been dishonored by being cogni- 
zant thereof and a participant therein, and calling for a com- 
mittee of seven to investigate and report upon the matter. 
Carpenter voted for the investigation, but before doing so 
characterized it as a scheme conceived as and intended to be 
a stab at and assault upon the administration, brought at the 
opening of the presidential canvass for the purpose of injur- 
ing General Grant. He proclaimed that " those senators who 
moved and promoted this assault upon the administration " 
either knew there was no foundation for the charges, and that 
the government " would emerge from the investigation with- 
out the smell of fire upon its garments, or they knew our 
neutral duties had been violated and were taking up the clubs 
for a foreign nation and brandishing them over their own 
native land." 

The resolution was adopted by a vote of fifty-two to five. 
But as the preamble was so much in the nature of a direct 
charge of guilt, and as Carpenter had so thoroughly exposed 
the animus which brought it forth, Sumner sought to wdth- 



SALES OF ARMS TO FRENCH AGENTS. 393 

draw it, and finally succeeded in having it laid on the table. 
However, it was debated for two weeks before thus disposed 
of, Sumner in particular making free assault upon the admin- 
istration. Then Carpenter turned upon the senator from 
Massachusetts with spirit: 

Mr. President, the senator's purpose is now revealed. We know what his 
motive was; we know it was not to investigate facts, but it was an attempt 
to blacken this administration without regard to truth or justice, else the 
whole resolution would have been adopted two weeks ago without debate. 

Schurz, being a native of Germany, had no love for 
France, and his love for his adopted country, the United 
States, did not seem to be strong enough to prevent him 
from attacking its government for selling, under authority of 
law, arms to an enemy of the land in which he was born 
but from which he felt compelled to flee as a revolutionist. 
So Sumner, in prosecuting his quarrel with President Grant, 
made good use of what appeared to be Schurz's greater 
love for Germany than for the United States, of which he 
was then a senator. These points Carpenter turned against 
the two senators with deadly effect, interjecting short double- 
edged sentences and epigrams of a dozen words each into 
their remarks with such dexterity and power as to not only 
neutralize the force of his opponents, but turn their weap- 
ons back upon themselves with destructive results. He 
indicted the two senators for bringing forward a charge 
against their own country in the interests of a foreign 
country as being, to say the least, unpatriotic; and the people -^ 

might, he feared, judge Mr. Schurz even more harshly than ^ ^ ^ 

that. ^ ^'^^^ 

When the committee of investigation was named Sumner /\^//^ 
refused to serve as a member of it. It was, therefore, con- 
stituted as follows: Hannibal Hamlin, Matt. H. Carpenter, 
John Sherman, F. A. Sawyer, John A. Logan, James Har- 
lan and John W. Stevenson. 

Sumner refused to go before the committee to testify, and 
Schurz was present and cross-examined or coached all the 



394 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

witnesses. Carpenter drew the report, which found that the 
government, under the acts of congress of 1825, had ample 
authority to sell the arms; that there was nothing fraudulent or 
wrong in the sales so far as the United States government was 
concerned, and that no international comity or neutral duties 
had been violated, because the government had not sold mu- 
nitions of war to France and refused to sell upon equal terms to 
Germany. When this report was presented. May 11, 1872, 
Sumner arose and protested against receiving it, declared the 
committee was formed contrary to parliamentary rules, be- 
cause Jefferson's Manual says, " When any member who is 
ajrainst the bill hears himself named on its committee he 
ought to ask to be excused," and by innuendo charged that 
members of the committee had, as Mr. Logan put it, " per- 
verted the testimony or deviated from the path of their duty 
or done injustice to their country by forfeiting their own 
judgment and yielding to that which was an improper one." 

Carpenter struck a telling blow by showing that every 
member of the committee voted for the investigation, and 
that the report against which Sumner protested had never 
been read by him (Sumner) or any member of the senate 
not on the committee; and, therefore, its contents must be 
unknown. 

Twenty days later, under a motion to postpone the civil 
appropriation bill, Sumner renewed his attack on the Presi- 
dent, while pretending to debate the report on the sale of 
arms, although his entire reference to that subject did not 
occupy three dozen lines of the old narrow columns of The 
Globe. The speech was simply the most relentless and 
acrimonious castigation of his President ever uttered in the 
senate by a senator of the same political party. In it Sumner 
charged Grant with nepotism, with establishing a " military 
ring " in the White House, with insulting the African race, 
with assaulting the safeguards of the treasury, with numer- 
ous violations of the constitution, with contriving against San 
Domingo, with undue personal pretensions, with being influ- 



A GALLANT DEFENSE OF GRANT. 395 

enced by gift-taking, and described him as " the great presi- 
dential quarreler of our history." He closed by haranguing 
the pending presidential convention not to re-nominate Grant, 
and pretended to quote the dying words to himself of Edwin 
M. Stanton, thus: 

I know General Grant better than any other person in the country can 
know him. It was my duty to study him, and I did so night and day, when 
I saw him and when I did not see him, and now I tell you what I know, he 
can not govern this country. 

Sumner alleged that he thereupon asked Stanton why he 
spoke for Grant during the presidential campaign of 1868, 
and the great secretary of war replied : " I spoke, but I 
never introduced the name of Grant. I spoke only for the 
republican party and the republican cause." Thus he con- 
tinued, summoning dead and living witness, in the onslaught 
upon Grant. 

A GALLANT DEFENSE OF GRANT. 

To this extraordinary speech Carpenter replied four days 
later. Usually he did not like to have Mrs. Carpenter pres- 
ent during his speeches, because, he said, he could never 
acquit himself so creditably when he knew she was watch- 
ing him. On this occasion, however, he invited her to the 
chamber, and seemed to be in an exceedingly cheerful and 
confident mood. The galleries were packed, hundreds of 
prominent persons having come on from New York and 
Philadelphia to hear Carpenter's reply. He began by show- 
ing that every act of the government in selling arms to the 
Remingtons, the contractors, not the " agents," as Sumner 
characterized them, of the French government, was in ac- 
cordance with domestic and international laws, and introduced 
a letter from Prince Bismarck in which the great German 
chancellor distinctly said the sale of arms to France by cit- 
izens of the United States was no violation of neutrality laws 
or of any treaty stipulations. 



39^ I-IFE OF CARPENTER. 

This demolished both Sumner and Schurz, who had pre- 
tended that the sale of arms to France was unjust to Ger- 
many. His argument upon the rights of neutral nations was 
pronounced by diplomatists and judges to be the most clear, 
learned and exhaustive ever delivered upon the floor of con- 
gress. It was unanswerable. Upon its conclusion Carpenter 
turned his attention to Sumner's " twenty columns of cal- 
umny, personal abuse and falsehood," uttered with the " in- 
tention of thwarting the manifest intention of the people to 
nominate and re-elect General Grant." It was a veritable 
tornado. Carpenter appeared to be inspired and " fretting for 
the conflict." He was in earnest. 

His face was flushed, his eyes sparkled and burned, his voice 
was loud and clear, and his mood, while not that of anger, 
plainly indicated a determination to redress an outrage, right 
a wrong, defend his friend, the President, from false charges, 
expose the motives of those who had made the assault, and 
punish them for their wickedness toward the administration. 

His designs were carried out with resistless force and over- 
whelming effect. He showed how Sumner first became 
angry with Grant because he failed to induce the President 
to remove Mr. Tuckerman from the Greek mission and ap- 
point to that position a man from Boston, whose recommen- 
dation was that he had been " a life-long friend " of Sumner. 
When, in his vivisection, he finally reached the marrow, his 
auditors listened in absolute pain and apprehension. They 
saw the destroying blasts increasing in fury, the indignation 
of the usually genial and mirth-provoking senator rising 
higher and higher, and the arraignment growing more terri- 
ble and destructive, but they could not tell when or how the 
end would come. 

Sumner, pale and trembling, sat, for a while, under Car- 
penter's lacerating and swift-descending lash, but, unable to 
bear up longer under the increasing scourge, rushed, or as 
Carpenter put it, " pranced " from the chamber. 

In denominating General Grant "the great presidential 



A GALLANT DEFENSE OF GRANT. 397 

quarreler of our history," Sumner had said "the eleventh 
commandment " is that " a President of the United States 
shall never quarrel." In treating this Carpenter said: 

He has risen in this paragraph above the universe ; he has seated him- 
self by the side of the Almighty and undertaken the revision, correction 
and enlargement of his works — " A President of the United States shall 
never quarrel." This is the addition which the senator from Massachusetts 
engrafts upon the decalogue, that body of laws given by God to man amid 
the thunders of Sinai. I hold in my hand the sacred volume which con- 
tains the revelations of man's latest existence on earth and penetrates the 
vail and discloses the mysteries beyond. John, on the island of Patmos, 
being " in the spirit on the Lord's day," saw many things, clean and un- 
clean ; he saw the great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns ; he saw 
the whore of Babylon in scarlet attire, and he saw the senator from Massa- 
chusetts. And apparently, to prevent the blasphemy which we have wit- 
nessed in this chamber, there are written at the conclusion of this sacred 
volume, which contains the light of our lives in this life and our guide to 
a better abode above, words of awful admonition which I recommend to 
the careful study of the senator from Massachusetts : " For I testify unto 
you, every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any 
man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues 
t/iat are xvritten in this book." Why, sir, if the presumption of the senator 
from Massachusetts should only reach a little higher, you might find in 
the book-stalls within a year a volume entitled "The Sermon on the 
Mount, Revised, Corrected, and Greatly Enlarged and Improved, by Charles 
Sumner." 

He has, as it is reported, long been not only an admirer, but an imitator of 
Burke; and it is clear that in the elaborate and malignant philippic upon 
the President which he read in the senate on Friday, which was composed 
at great expense of midnight oil, printed in pamphlet form and partially 
distributed before its delivery in the senate, the senator had in mind Burke's 
terrible arraignment of Warren Hastings, which was so vindictive as to 
provoke the following epigram : 

" Oft have we wondered that on Irish gi-ound 
No poisonous reptile has ere yet been found; 
Revealed the secret stands of Nature's work, 
She saved her venom to create a Burke." 

Imitators are always more successful in copying the vices than the 
virtues of the old masters; and the senator's philippic as far excels its 
model in malice and meanness as it falls short of it in grandeur and elo- 
quence. And there are many reasons for fearing that the senator will meet 
the fate of Burke, who late in life turned away from his early principles 
and died in the embrace of his early enemies, detested by his early friends. 



39^ LIP'E OF CARPENTER. 

Having gone seriatim through what he termed, in a dear, 
ringing voice, the " monstrous exaggerations, wilful misrepre- 
sentations and deliberate falsehoods " of Sumner's speech, he 
turned to the last of them, the alleged dying charge of Edwin 
M. Stanton against Grant, saying: 

There is one thing, which, for its enormity, deserves special attention; 
and if I thought it would take the last breath of my life I would spend it 
on this. The senator asserts that this interview occurred a few days before 
Mr. Stanton's death; and that Mr. Stanton was expressing not a sudden con- 
clusion, formed upon newly-discovered testimonj-, but the result of his 
study of Grant's character for many years. He makes Mr. Stanton say : 
" I know General Grant better than any other person in the country can 
know him. It was my duty to study him when I saw him and when I did 
not see him," etc. And he makes him say " that he was not consulted 
about the nomination " of General Grant for the presidency, and that in the 
speeches which he (Stanton) made during the campaign he never introduced 
the name of General Grant. 

The senator from Massachusetts has been very unfortunate in all this 
business. He waded into this investigation chin-deep upon the strength of 
letters of very eminent individuals, whose names he refused to disclose, and 
whose testimony, therefore, we could not obtain. But upon this occasion 
he evidently intended to support his charge against General Grant by 
witnesses who could not be called to impeach him. So he violated all the 
delicacies of friendship and invaded the sanctuary of the grave and called 
Edwin M. Stanton back to bear testimony against the President of the 
United States. Sir, it is a littl' diffictilt to keep strictly ivithin parliamentary 
decorum and say what ought to be said on such an occasion. I shall attempt to 
do it, and I hope I shall succeed. 

In the* first place, I am speaking to men who will know whether I am 
right or wrong in what I say; and I assert that if Mr. Stanton made that 
declaration to the senator from Massachusetts under the circumstances de- 
tailed by him, if there is a word of substantial truth in that whole paragraph, 
if it be not an infamous fabrication from first to last, then Mr. Stanton was 
the most double-faced and dislionest man that ever lived; and I call upon 
senators around me to bear testimony upon this point. 

There were accidents brought me to know Mr. Stanton very well. I came 
here to attend to an important lawsuit, occupied a room in the war depart- 
ment, and for several months saw Mr. Stanton daily. I went to the supreme 
court in the morning at eleven o'clock to watch the pro-^ress of its business, 
and I was at leisure for the rest of the day. I was much of the fime at the 
department, and therefore frequently with him. He was at that time, as 
you all know, imprisoned in the department in consequence of troubles with 



A GALLANT DEFENSE OF GRANT. 399 

the President, and he used to come into my room to smoke and often in- 
vited me to walk with him. In the course of our conversations I heard him 
refer to General Grant a hundred times, and never but with the highest 
respect and the kindest feeling. 

I came here a senator at the session at which Mr. Stanton died, and was 
frequently at his house during his last illness. I saw him just before he 
died, under circumstances which gave me an opportunity to know more 
than I should otherwise have known of his feeling toward General Grant. 
I had charge, for the first time in my life, of a bill in the senate, the bill 
which we passed for the reconstruction of the legislature of Georgia, after 
the colored members had been expelled. We sat late at night to pass it. 
At about half-past eleven, while in my seat, it occurred to me something 
might be done to insure the appointment of Mr. Stanton as judge ot the 
supreme court. It had been talked about for some weeks. It had been ex- 
pected by many of us, and yet his nomination did not come. I then and 
there drew up a letter to the President, recommending Mr. Stanton to be 
appointed judge of that court. I took it around this chamber, and in less 
than twenty minutes obtained thirty-seven signatures of republican sena- 
tors. That was Friday night, and before leaving the senate chamber I 
agreed with the senator from Michigan [Mr. Chandler] to meet me at the 
White House the following morning, Saturday, at ten o'clock, to present 
the letter to the President. 

The next morning at ten o'clock I rode to Mr. Stanton's and showed him 
the letter, and as he glanced over it the tears started down his cheeks. He 
said not a word. He did not even say thank you. Witnessing the 
depth of his emotion, I bowed myself out, telling him that I was going to 
present it to the President. 

I carried it to the President and found the senator from Michigan with 
the President, awaiting me. Said the President: 

" I am delighted to have that letter; I have desired for weeks to appoint 
Mr. Stanton to that place, and yet, in consequence of his having been sec- 
retary of war and so prominent in the recent political strife, I have doubted 
whether it would answer to make him a judge; that indorsement is all I 
want; you go to Mr. Stanton's house and tell him his name will be sent to the 
senate on Monday morning." 

This was on Saturday. I then drove back to Mr. Stanton's house and 
told him what the President had said. Mr. Stanton's first reply was : " The 
kindness of General Grant — it is perfectly characteristic of him — will do 
more to cure me than all the skill of the doctors." And, sir, I know that in the 
serious illness which terminated so disastrously, he frequently had occasion 
to refer to the course of the administration, to matters that were pending 
in congress, and I do know, and I can testify, and I hold it to be my solemn 
duty to testify, that in all those interviews, from first to last, from the time 



4O0 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

I first made his acquaintance down to the hour of his death, I never heard 
him say of General Grant anything that was not of the kindest nature 
and of the highest praise. 

My friend from Vermont [Mr. Edmunds] reminds me of a difficulty that 
occurred after the name of Mr. Stanton was sent to the senate. He was 
appointed to succeed Mr. Justice Grier, who had retired, to take effect on a 
future day, the ist of February, I think, that he might be present at the 
decision of some causes that had been previously argued. Mr. Stanton's 
name was sent here; he was confirmed by the senate, and a commission 
was made out and ready to be delivered. The President then suggested this 
difficulty: Mr. Justice Grier still being in office, could the commission be 
delivered.'' Thereupon several friends were consulted by the President, 
and they advised him that there was no difficulty on that ground; and 
thereupon the commission was sent to Mr. Stanton, to take effect on the 
day when the resignation of Mr. Grier should take efiect. The President 
continued to call upon him at his house, day after day, during his last ill- 
ness, up to the day of his death, and followed his remains to the grave. 

The circumstances of the appointment of Mr. Stanton to the place were 
very remarkable. Mr. Justice Grier, an old man full of honors and full of 
days, had sent in his resignation, or announced his disposition to retire on 
a certain day. Mr. Stanton was nominated, confirmed, commissioned, and 
ready to take his seat. He was then taken sick, died, and was buried, all 
before the ist day of February, and on that day good old Justice Grier 
returned, took his place on the bench, and helped to decide causes after his 
successor had been appointed, commissioned, and was dead and buried. 
The circumstances show the anxiety of the President in this matter to do 
this kindlj' act to his friend Stanton; and I tell you, sir, what I do know, 
and what no statement could shake from my belief for one moment, i/iere is 
not one ivord of truth in the -whole paragraph. 

Carpenter then quoted from numerous speeches made in 
1868 by Stanton, in which he not only "introduced the name 
of Grant," but bestowed upon him unstinted praise. At 
Steubenville, Ohio, Stanton said: 

Vote early and vote often ; for if Grant be elected, this globe shall disap- 
pear from the firmament before the banner of the United States shall suffer 
tarnish or shame, on the land or on the deep. If there is any man among 
you that would reverse the order of history ; who would bring upon you a 
shame and a reproach never before known among the nations of the earth; 
who would have the commander of the United States armies deliver up his 
sword, and humbly bow before the rebel commander — let that man vote 
against Grant, but never again call himself an American citizen. 



A VIEW OF THE CONTROVERSY. 4OI 

At Philadelphia, before the Union League and elsewhere, 
Stanton delivered powerful speeches for Grant, and after quot- 
ing from them Carpenter thus closed his speech: 

It is a fortunate thing that the dead secretary has left it without the power 
of the hving senator to belie him. * * * The quotations I have made 
are sufficient to show, either that Mr. Stanton, on his death-bed, uttered a 
falsehood to the senator from Massachusetts — a falsehood which he must 
have known to be susceptible of easy contradiction by reference to reports 
of his speeches during that campaign — or that the senator from Massachu- 
setts deliberately falsified Mr. Stanton. I am content that the American 
people shall judge between them. 

The national republican convention which re-nominated 
Grant was in session at Philadelphia when the speech was 
delivered. Among the numerous telegrams of congratula- 
tion and thanks was one from the Wisconsin delegation in 
that convention, couched in the strongest language and 
signed by every member. 

This speech undoubtedly had a wider influence upon the 
country than any Carpenter ever delivered in the senate. 
Thousands and thousands ^ of copies of it were printed and 
sent broadcast over every state in the Union. Grant was 
re-nominated, the heat of a presidential campaign prepared 
the public mind for impressions, and this speech was admit- 
ted on all sides to be the most potent element of the can- 
vass in securing his re-election. And if it did not completely 
silence Sumner and Schurz, who were openly opposed to 
Grant, it destroyed all their influence and their power for 
evil, as it exposed to the world the falsity of their charges 
against the administration and the animus of their haired of 
the President. 

A VIEW OF THE CONTROVERSY. 

Perhaps no more favorable opportunity than this will be 
offered for a further reference to the senatorial relations be- 

1 The republican committee alone circulated a hundred thousand copies. 
26 



402 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

tween Carpenter and Sumner. When the former first 
appeared in Washington as a senator he was received with 
a great deal of distinguished condescension by the senator 
from Massachusetts, who gave an elaborate dinner in his 
honor. 

For some time Sumner had ruled the senate with a rod of | 
iron, and he adopted the usual means of capturing new sen- | 
ators to secure Carpenter as one of his pliant friends and 
allies. Therefore, when, a little later, he discovered that he 
could not control Carpenter nor quell his frequent rebellions 
against dictation, he was astounded. But mere astonishment 
was soon forced to the rear by a more disturbing and dan- 
gerous feeling. Carpenter became suddenly popular; was 
recognized as one of the very ablest lawyers who had ever 
sat in congress; was a brilliant and fascinating, as well as ef- 
fective debater, and was referred to by the newspapers as the 
" leader of the republican side of the United States senate," 
the " coming man," and the " Webster of the west." 

All this nettled and annoyed Sumner, who lost few oppor- 
tunities thereafter of making trouble for Carpenter. When, 
early in his first term, it became apparent that he was about 
to become an aggressive opponent of Sumner in a particular 
matter, his friends approached him in fear, protesting that he 
must proceed with no rashness against the acknowledged 
leader of the senate, as he would certainly be destro3'ed. 
Like Alexander, who fought only when he had kings for 
competitors, he replied: " I would rather be destroyed in 
honorable battle than be taken a prisoner and led to support 
and indorse measures against which m}' conscience revolts. 
If I lock horns at all, and I plainly see I must, it may as well 
be with the biggest ox in the herd." 

And so he locked horns with Sumner. In all his contro- 
versies with the Massachusetts senator. Carpenter never lost 
his temper; nor did he even reveal a shadow on his overflow- 
ing mirth, except that, in his defense of President Grant, 



A VIEW OF THE CONTROVERSY. 4O3 

there was perceptible an earnest determination to inflict what 
he believed to be well-merited punishment. Even in this he 
displayed no ill-temper, but it was evident to all that he was 
firing no blank cartridges — that he was aiming at vital 
parts and striking to kill. But none of these little differences 
were premeditated on Carpenter's part nor carried forward 
as the programme and in the spirit of rivalry. 

On the contrary, when Sumner presented any measure, 
which he frequently did, that Carpenter could indorse, he 
always made special exertions and apparently had great de- 
light in efforts to secure its passage. Personally, he was 
always courteous, genial and cordial toward Sumner, which 
left for the Massachusetts statesman absolutely no reason to 
complain of Carpenter's occasional but strong opposition to 
his measures, nor any room to question the sincerity of his 
motives. 

When Sumner had carried his hostility to the administra- 
tion so far that he would not speak to Grant nor Secretary 
Fish, it became necessar}^, for the proper transaction of public 
business, to remove him from the chairmanship of the com- 
mittee on foreign relations. After he had been deposed and 
Simon Cameron given his place, he said to Wm. E. Cramer, 
of Wisconsin, while complaining bitterly of certain republi- 
can senators: " I can not find fault with Senator Carpenter 
in this matter; he has simply acted with his party. Though 
hostile, his attitude has been open and fair." That forcible 
removal can not be consided otherwise than a justification 
of every public act of Carpenter towards Sumner. 

He was a sincere mourner over the death of Sumner. 
Probably not one of the hundreds of distinguished per- 
sons present on the solemn March morning in 1874 ^vhen 
the funeral formalities of the two houses of congress in honor 
of the deceased abolitionist had been concluded, ever so fully 
comprehended the boundless power that can be given to 
words by the human voice, as when Carpenter, as president 



404 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

■pro tempore of the senate, with tearful eyes and uplifted hand, 
said: 

The services appointed to be performed by the committee of arrangements 
having been terminated, the senate of the United States intrusts the mortal 
remains of Charles Sumner to its sergeant-at-arms and a committee ap- 
pointed by it, cliarged with the melancholy duty of conveying them to his 
home, there to be committed, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in 
the soil of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. Peace to his ashes! 



THE BOSTON FIRE. 405 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

FORTY-SECOND CONGRESS — THIRD SESSION. 

The third session of the forty-second congress, which be- 
gan December 2, 1872, was one that never passed from the 
minds of the people nor from the clearest recollections of 
Carpenter. It was rendered memorable by the discussion of 
the Louisiana question, and, for a time, odious, by the pas- 
sage of the " back-pay " bill. 

He had always held that the federal government could ex- 
ercise the right of eminent domain and condemn those lands in 
any of the states which might be required for postoffices, 
arsenals and government works generally, and at this session 
introduced a bill providing for the condemnation of lands in 
such cases. It received the sanction of the best lawyers 
of the senate, but, with numerous other bills, was left hang- 
ing in mid-air at adjournment. 

THE BOSTON FIRE. 

The senators from Massachusetts introduced a bill to ex- 
empt from all tariif and impost duties for a certain period, 
goods imported by the merchants and business men of Boston 
who suffered losses through the great fire of 1872. This 
Carpenter opposed as wholly outside of the power granted 
by the constitution to congress, as he had done when a simi- 
lar bill for the benefit of the Chicago sufferers was pending. 
He declared that if Boston could be exempted from the tariff 
laws New England might be given the same concession, and 
that such precedents were becoming altogether too numer- 
ous. Portland and Chicago had received such legislation; 
Boston was asking it, and the door having been opened, 
every other city that might thereafter suffer by fire could and 
would demand similar concessions. He favored a direct ap- 
propriation from the treasury rather than the tariff exemption. 



406 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

for by the former all classes of losers could be reached and 
relieved, while by the latter the rich alone would profit. He 
said : 

To whom does this provision carry benefit? Not to the poor man, not 
to the man who owned a poor slianty or had $5,000 worth of goods, or 
$1,000 worth ot household furniture. He gets no benefit from this bill. 
No, it is jour nabob; it is your landlord; it is your man worth his millions, 
your man who is abundantly able to stand up and meet this calamity, that 
congress is called upon to help. 

There is one authority for such legislation, and but one. The Scripture 
saith that " to him who hath shall be given; but from him who hath not 
shall be taken even that which he hath." To the landlord and the nabob 
of Boston, able to stand up and meet this calamity, congress will give, not 
of its means, not of its abundance, but it will release him from the constitu- 
tional obligation resting upon every citizen. But to the poor man of Bos- 
ton, to the tenant who hired his place and paid his monthly rent, to the 
poor man who lost his furniture and saw himself and children in the street 
the next day without one dollar, oh that is too small a thing for congress to 
deal with, and the honorable senator [Mr. Sumner] says congress, like the 
Divinity, should only come in on great occasions. The greatness of an 
occasion, to my apprehension, does not depend upon the greatness or the 
wealth of a man who has lost only a part of his means. It is a great oc- 
casion when a small man is crushed to the earth by misfortune ; a great 
occasion when a poor man is stripped of the little he has ; it was a great 
occasion when the poor woman sitting at the gate of the temple gave her 
mite to a fund of charity. 

FRANKING PRIVILEGE ABOLISHED. 

On January 22, 1873, the bill to abolish the franking priv- 
ilege on and after July i, 1873, Passed the senate. The final 
proviso was that " no compensation shall now or hereafter 
be made to rrlembers of congress on account of postage," 
to which Carpenter offered as an amendment, " or for any 
other purpose." This cut off salary and mileage, and was 
of course defeated. He then voted against the bill, de- 
claring it to be a grave mistake to cut oft" the free distribu- 
tion of public documents — an injury rather than a benefit 
to the people, the rectification of which they would re- 
quire in the future. His prediction was verified when the 



"back pay." 407 

franking privilege as to all except the private correspondence 
of members of congress was soon after restored. 

During the count of the electoral votes alleged to have 
been cast for U. S. Grant and Horace Greeley for President, 
at the election of November, 1872, Carpenter objected to 
counting the votes of Louisiana for Grant. That state had 
cast sixty-six thousand four hundred and sixty-six ballots for 
the Greeley and only fifty-nine thousand nine hundred and 
sevienty-five ballots for the Grant electors, but the returning- 
board " counted in " the latter. The objection was sus- 
tained, and the eight votes of Louisiana were rejected 
entirely, as were also those of Arkansas and Georgia. If the 
votes in question had been necessary to elect a President, 
perhaps they would not have been thrown out without more 
o£ a struggle. 

FILLMORE'S SANCTION OF POLYGAMY. 

When the bill providing for the " better execution of the 
laws in Utah " was pending. Carpenter warned the senate 
to proceed with caution, lest laws which could not be en- 
forced against an institution which had alreadv received the 
guas I'-sanction of the federal government be enacted, thereby 
encouraging further defiance of and contempt for the United 
States by the Mormons. He referred to the fact that 
certain territorial laws enacted by the polygamists were not 
for many years disapproved by congress, and that Millard 
Fillmore nominated, and the senate confirmed, Brighara 
Young to be governor of Utah while he had about him 
thirteen or fourteen adulterous wives, thereby giving some- 
thing of legal sanction to polygamy. 

"BACK PAY." 

Carpenter had alwa3'^s voted to increase the pay and re- 
quire better service of federal employes, and the bill abolish- 
ing the franking privilege having passed, voted to increase 
the compensation of members of congress from $5,000 to 



408 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

$7,500 per annum. He predicted that with the constantly 
increasing cost of living,, if the salaries of senators should 
not be increased, the entire senate would fall into the hands 
of the rich within twenty-five years.' Before recording his 
vote, he said: 

I came here determined to do what I thought was right upon all subjects, 
salaries included. I have advocated an increase of pay in every branch of 
the public service for ten years. I have not had the honor of being in con- 
gress so long, but I have been on the stump in this country for ten years, 
and I may say, speaking of the people of the west, that I know the public 
pulse as well as any man in the west. 1 have always advocated a grade of 
salaries amounting to compensation, and my constituuents, when they 
elected me, knew that if I had been honest on the stump I would vote to 
increase the salary of every public officer from the President down to a con- 
stable. There is no doubt whatever that a senator could come to Washing- 
ton and live on $5,000; he could come here and live on $3,000; he could 
come here and live on a thousand; but how could he do it.? The senator 
from Vermont seems to be alarmed lest his constituents should get after him 
if his salary is increased. I have not the slightest fear that any objection 
will be made by the people of Wisconsin. They are men of liberal views, 
men of sense. I have not conversed with any man in that state on this 
subject for years who did not approve of an increase of our salaries and 
who did not look to that as the true reform in the civil service. Why, it is 
with this as it is with everything else in life; if you are to have a position 
among gentlemen you must live as gentlemen live. The expense of living 
has advanced fearfully be^-ond what it was in the days of the Revolution. 
This is the consequence of our advance in wealth, in civilization, and in 
importance as a nation. The people of Wisconsin, if they send a man here 
to represent them in the senate, wish him to live how? In the garret of a 
five-story building on crackers and cheese, to dress in goat skins and sleep 
in the wilderness? No. When they come here and ride by the mansions 
of my honorable friends from Vermont [Mr. Morrill and Mr. Edmunds] up 
, on the Circle, see their elegant houses, brilliantly lighted, surrounded by 
acres of pavement, parks and fountains, all built at the expense of the 
nation; see them giving levees and receptions; and if they ride by the 
palace of my honorable friend from New Jersey, and see his magnificence 
of living, and then come to the homes of the " poor white trash " of this 
senate, and find their own senators among them, they will not like that. 
They have manly pride, and expect to find their senators living like other 
senators. The people of Wisconsin know that the services of a competent 

1 Count thi millionaires of recent senates and observe how close to veri- 
fication that prophecy has already approached. 



"back pay. 409 

cashier of a bank, or president of an insurance company, can not be secured 
short of a salary of $10,000 a year. They bflieve a senator ought to have 
as much brains as a cashier of a bank or president of an insurance company. 
And they are willing to pay accordingly. 

The senators from Vermont may truthfully represent the views of their 
constituents. The senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Scott] may truthfully 
represent his constituents. I have no right to say they do not. But I 
speak for a people living on the beach of the great lakes, on the wide 
prairies of the west; a people whose cheeks are fanned by breezes which 
have come a thousand miles; a people living on the banks of a river which 
traverses a continent; a people whose views are enlarged to correspond 
with the face of nature with which they are familiar. They are able, and 
expect to pay for whatever they have. They expect to be served faithfully, 
and are willing to pay a compensation for the service rendered. They 
expect, desire, to bii represented as well as the other states are represented. 
They intend that their senators shall have as much influence in the national 
council as the senators of any state ; and they are willing to pay the neces- 
sary expense to secure this end. 

That was a splendid tribute to the assumed liberality and 
advancement of the people of his state, which, when he re- 
turned home, was met with a storm of abuse and denuncia- 
tion. No argument, sense or reason was used; the merits 
of the question were not discussed; but general maltreat- 
ment was visited upon those who voted for " back pay " more 
viciously than it had ever been upon the blackest violator of 
virtue or most brutal shedder of human blood. 



4IO LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

MONEY IN POLITICS. 

At the special session of the senate, convened March 4, 
1873, ^^^^ charges against Alex. Caldwell, of Kansas, of secur- 
ing his election to the United States senate through bribery, 
came up. Carpenter held that abundant malice but no brib- 
ery was proved; and that even if four legislators, as charged, 
had been bribed to cast their votes for Caldwell, they did not 
render his election void nor change the result, as he was 
chosen by a majority of twenty-six. During this debate 
Senator Morton expressed his indignation at the use of money 
in politics. To this Carpenter replied with rare humor but 
telling ellect. He ended: " Why, sir, in Wisconsin we actu- 
ally spend money to pay clergymen and promulgate the 
gospel! " Caldwell cut all proceedings short by resigning. 

FORTY-TMIRD CONGRESS — » BACK PAY." 

The first regular session of the forty-third congress began 
December i, 1873. Almost the first thing accomplished was 
the repeal of the law of the previous session increasing the 
pay of various federal officials, which, so far as senators and 
representatives were concerned, gave rise to the " salary- 
grab " clamor. Carpenter opposed and aided in defeating 
the amendment reducing the President's salary to $25,000, 
but voted for the provisions restoring the pay of congressmen 
to the old figure, $5,000, giving his reasons therefor. He 
said he charged his clients what he thought they ought to 
pay for his services, but if they objected, he received what 
they were willing to give him. To quote verbatim: 

I propose to deal with my constituents as I deal with my clients. If we 
disagree about my compensation, I shall settle with them upon their own 
terms. When the salary bill came before the senate at the last session, I 
believed, as I have ever since I had any opinion upon any matter whatever, 



ENEMY S PROPERTY DEFINED. 4I I 

that the only way to obtain a sound article is to pay a sound price, and that 
the only way to obtain faithful public service is to pay a fair compensation. 
* * * I have voted to increase the salaries of judges, cabinet officers, 
bureau officers, clerks in the departments and all other public servants. I 
have done this from a sense of duty. I never acted more conscientiously 
in my life than when I voted for the salary bill at the last session. I have 
seen nothing to lead me to change my opinion. I have read columns of 
abuse without one sentence of argument, and I can see but one reason why 
this law should be repealed, that is, the people demand it. * * Could the 
question be submitted to the people of Wisconsin to-day, the salary law of 
the last session would be repealed five to one. * * Regarding myself as 
one of the agents of the people of Wisconsin and knowing their wishes," it 
is my pleasure as it is my duly to vote as I know they would if this ques- 
tion could be submitted to them 

Not one member of either house of congress spoke so 
Irankly in regard to this measure; none offered sounder 
reasons for voting to increase the salaries of congressmen, and 
none bowed with greater pleasure to the judgment of the 
people that his steps must be retraced. 

ENEMY'S PROPERTY DEFINED, 

When it was proposed to transfer all the cases pending 
before the southern claims commission to the court of claims 
and enlarge the jurisdiction of that court, Carpenter renewed 
his old protest against opening the door of the treasury to 
every person who would swear he lost property by the Re- 
bellion and was " loyal in spirit " to the Union. He again 
contended all property in the enemy's country was, in the 
eye of the law, enemy's property, liable and compelled to 
furnish sustenance to the invaders, although the owner might 
not be disloyal in heart or act, and was liable to destruction 
as possessions of the foe without creating a claim against 
the loyal government. The supreme court had repeatedly 
decided that the Rebelhon was a "territorial war;" that the 
south was the enemy of the north as fully as though an 
ocean had rolled between them and they had never been under 

1 The republican state convention of 1873, at Madison, adopted a resolu- 
tion cor.demning the "salary-grab" law. 



412 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

one government. He thus illustrated his objection to pay- 
ing the claims coming up from the south: 

If we were at war with England, for instance, and sent our army to invade 
Canada, the moment we crossed the Canadian line we should be in enemy's 
country. Any person domiciled there, doing business there, is, for the 
purposes of war, enemy's person and enemy's property ; and we could no 
more distinguish between the property of an American citizen residing 
there and the property of a British subject residing there than we could 
draw any other distinction that has no existence. And the destruction of 
the property of that American citizen would not create a legal claim 
against the American government. 

Carpenter voted against the bill reducing the army, be- 
cause it w^as a portion of the appropriation bill, which must 
pass; but not until he had roundly denounced the "vicious 
custom of engrafting general legislation on appropriation 
bills." Other members denounced the custom but voted 
for the bill. 

A SENATOR'S LUXURIES. 

The franking privilege having been repealed, it was pro- 
posed to discontinue printing large quantities of the various 
public documents. This Carpenter opposed, saying the 
people had a right to know what their servants were doing. 
He discloses some interesting facts: 

I hope the senate will continue to print documents, and that members 
will distribute them. Congress voted to abolish what was styled the frank- 
ing privilege, and on the motion of the senator from Vermont [Mr. Mor- 
rill] declared that no allowance for postage should thereafter be made to 
members. It was universally recognized as one of the duties of members 
of congress to distribute the documents published for that purpose. By 
the law as it then stood, these documents were transmitted as free matter, 
under the frank or signature of a member of congress. When congre->s 
abolished this provision of law, and provided that no allowance should be 
made to members for postage, I suppose it was intended that members 
should pay the postage upon all mail matter which had previously been 
transmitted under the frank. I understood this to be imposing upon every 
senator about $i,ooo per annum in postage. I thought this was unjust, and 
therefore voted against the bill. But the bill passed. The superinlendcnt 
of documents has furnished me a statement that the postage on documents 
alone, based upon the amount published in the last congress, will be $921.87 



FOREIGN PROVINCES IN AMERICA. 413 

per annum. The other postage paid by members upon matter of public 
business will be at least $200 per annum; that is $1,121.87 in all, per 
annum. This change in the law, together with the abolition of mileage, 
which averaged about $400 to each member, and the abolition of allowance 
for stationery, $125 per annum, were reasons, among others, which induced 
me to vote for the increase of salary to the amount of $7,500. 

The idea of divorcing the government from the people, as we must do if 
we stop distributing the documents which are published by congress, strikes 
me as being a fatal blow at the theory of our government and its perfect 
administration. The people should know what we are doing, and should 
know it accurately and truly, and while congress is too virtuous to frank a 
document and let it go at the expense of the nation, let us pay our postage; 
and if we have not anything left, we do not come here to make money; we 
do not come here to get our expenses even. We come here, as we are 
informed by the people, and I now fully believe it, for the glory of the 
thing. Now, let us take the glory and let us spend the few dollars we have 
left over our board bills in paying the postage on these documents; and as 
long as that method of administration is agreeable to the majority of con- 
gress no member has a right to complain ; and when it gets to be disagree- 
able congress can provide that these documents, being certified to by the 
printing office, or by a clerk in the senate, or by some other officer to be 
appointed, shall go from Washington to the people free of postage. . 

As we have seen, the franking privilege, for the benefit of 
the people, not of congressmen, was soon after restored. 

FOREIGN PROVINCES IN AMERICA. 

Senator Windom, at this session, presented a bill to allow 
an agent of the Mennonites, in South Russia, to locate and 
hold for two years, " in a compact body," five hundred 
thousand acres of the public domain, and at any time during 
those two years to settle on such lands. Carpenter opposed 
the measure. He said that while heretofore all nationalities 
had been treated alike and given the same privileges upon 
the public domain, it " was now proposed to establish a for- 
eign colony in this country." 

It was, he affirmed, establishing a dangerous precedent; 
for if a colony of Russian nihilists or French communists 
should next ask for the exclusive use of a separate county, 
their request could not consistently be denied. He also 



414 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

pointed out that as the Mennonites were not to become citi- 
zens, we should have a large colon}'^ of people founding 
homes and wealth out of and upon our domain, but remain- 
ing, in all probability, subject to the military laws of Russia; 
that at least the question of whether we could hold them to mil- 
itary service would be an international and difficult one, and 
that in the remote contingency of a war with Russia a large 
colony in our midst might be compelled to fight against the 
country affording them homes and protection. The bill did 
not pass. 

AN HISTORICAL CHAPTER./ 

Carpenter was chosen to present to congress the unpub- 
lished documents containing a record of the doings of Earl 
St. Germans during the Carlist war in the Basque provinces. 
The exceedingly clear and clever manner in which, in doing 
it, he covered the salient points in that famous insurrection, is 
not only interesting but valuable: 

These are the official papers of Lord Elliot's (since Earl St. Germans) 
mission to Spain in the spring of 1S35, at the beginning of the Carlist war 
in the Basque provinces, where, history repeating itself now, more than an 
average generation afterwards, another Carlist war is raging. 

The facts are briefly these: Before the death of King Ferdinand II, of 
Spain, he had married, in his old age, a sister of the King of Naples, nick- 
named King Bomba, from his bombarding his own capital, who was finally 
expelled by Garibaldi. This was Queen Christina, the mother of Queen 
Isabella. The law of succession in Spain was the salic law, by which fe- 
males were excluded from the throne. Queen Christina caused the king to 
convene the cortcs; and through the inducement of giving to Spain a con- 
stitutional government, obtained the formal abrogation of that law; also the 
declaration that her daughter, on the king's demise, should succeed to the 
throne under the title of Isabella II, and that she, during her daughter's 
minority, should be regent. 

King Ferdinand had a brother, Don Carlos, the grandfather of the Don 
Carlos now contending for his claiins and in his right. The claim was that 
the abrogation of the salic law could have no retroactive effect, whatever 
it might do in the future, and hence could not affect his right to the throne. 
He made a formal protest, and retired to Portugal. Ferdinand died soon 
after. Isabella was proclaimed queen, and Queen Cliristina regent. About 
the middle of 1834 the inhabitants of the B.isque provinces rose under the 



AN HISTORICAL CHAPTER. 



415 



famous Zumal-acarregui, and Don Carlos joined them, assuming the title 
of Charles V. In the war that ensued no quarter was given on either side, 
each party treating the other as rebels, until Lord Elliot went out on his mis- 
sion of mercy, and succeeded in inducing both parties to sign a convention, 
by which all captives taken in arms wens in future to be treated as prisoners 
of war. This was in April, 1S35, the war having then lasted about nine 
months, the prisoners shot in cold blood numbering at least two thousand. 

The war terminated on the 31st of August, 1839, or four and a half years 
afterward. After the Elliot convention no prisoners of war were shot, and 
we may assume that from ten to twelve thousand lives were saved by this 
humane intervention, from the fact that the war lasted six times as long 
after the convention as it had existed before it. And considering that the 
war spread over a much larger extent of country and greater numbers 
were engaged, it is probable that from thirty to fifty thousand lives were 
thus saved. 

Few diplomatists can console themselves in the decline of life on such 
humanitarian success having crowned their efforts, and it is only justice to 
add that, though then a young man, the skill and discretion with which he 
executed his seemingly hopeless mission entitle him to the gratitude of the 
civilized world. 

The British government was then under treaty obligations never to rec- 
ognize Don Carlos, nor permit the intervention of other powers in his 
favor, and to do all they could to prevent any military or material aid from 
reaching him. 

By a change in the cabinet, the Duke of Wellington having succeeded 
Lord Palmerston, the former commissioned Lord Elliot to mediate between 
the contending parties, to urge on them the necessity of making some 
arrangement which should put an end to the mode of warfare which had 
excited " the most painful sensations through Europe." Lord Elliot was 
at the same time instructed frankly to inform Don Carlos and his generals 
that the British cabinet was bound by the treaty before mentioned, and 
that they must entertain no hope of a change in the policy of the govern- 
ment. 

The papers relating to this negotiation have never been published, but 
were sent by Earl St. Germans to General C. F. Henningsen, of Washing- 
ton, whom he had known as an officer in the Carlist army, on the condition 
that they should not be published, because some of them, though the least 
important, he considered to be the property of the British government, but 
with permission to place one copy in the library of General Albert Pike, 
and one copy to be presented to the senate of the United States for its 
library by any senator whom Messrs. Pike and Henningsen might request 
to do so. At their request, I make this presentation. 



4l6 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CUBAN FREEDOM. 

On April i6, 1874, Carpenter introduced a paper whose 
preamble declared that " it is the clear and undoubted right 
of any American colony to sever its connection with the 
mother country, and establish itself as an independent nation, 
whenever the good of its people demands it," and resolving 
that it " had become the duty of the United States to recog- 
nize Cuba as one of the independent nations of the earth," 
and that the contending parties should be accorded belliger- 
ent rights and equal privileges and advantages in all the 
ports of the United States. This was not adopted, and a 
terrible guerrilla warfare continued until 1878 on the island, 
which still belongs to Spain. 

ANOTHER CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. 

On May 22, 1874, Carpenter voted against the substitute 
for Charles Sumner's civil rights bill, providing that colored 
people should have equal rights and privileges with the 
whites in juries, churches,* schools, theaters, etc., most par- 
ticularly because section 4 prescribed the qualifications of 
jurors in state courts, which he held to be unconstitutional. 
He thought no state could be interfered with in prescribing 
the qualifications of jurors for its own courts. 

IMPOSTS, COMMERCE AND SUFFRAGE. 

It was attempted during this session to hustle through a 
number of bills allowing certain persons respectively to im- 
port free of duty paintings, statuary and animals for a zo- 
ological garden. One of them, slipped through the senate 
on a day when Carpenter was ill, but subsequently he left the 
chair and attacked all of them as unconstitutional. He held 
that the impost duties on art goods and menageries were 
intended for all persons the same as the duties on iron, liq- 
uors, or silks. Congress granted no further privileges to 
violate the constitution during the session. 



1 



FIRST TERM ENDED. 417 

Senator Windom reported a resolution asking for an ap- 
propriation to make surveys for the improvement, by the 
government, of the Mississippi river; making a continous 
water-route from the Mississippi to New York wa the Great 
Lakes, the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, in Wisconsin, and the 
Hudson river, in New York; opening a water-route from 
the Mississippi to the ocean via the Ohio and Kenawha riv- 
ers and a canal, and another route from the Mississippi via 
the Ohio and Tennessee rivers and a canal or freight railway 
to the ocean. Carpenter favored the appropriation because 
he thought it would commit the government to the broad 
system of internal improvements, recommended by Senator 
Windom, " and," said he, " I shall go the whole programme, 
Mr. President." The scheme failed to carry. 

Carpenter favored, and made a strong argument in sup- 
port of, a bill providing that foreign corporations might be 
sued through the agent located in any state in which the suit 
arose, as otherwise, in many cases, it would be impossible for 
poor people to obtain justice. 

While a bill to create the new territory of Pembina was 
pending, an amendment, providing that in that territory the 
right of suffrage should not be abridged on account of sex, 
was offered by Senator Sargent. Carpenter not only voted 
for the amendment, but made an eloquent speech in favor of 
universal suffrage, as a cure for many evils that could, by 
no other means, he said, ever be eradicated from our pol- 
itics. 

FIRST TERM ENDED. 

The second session of the forty-third congress, which began 
December 7, 1874, ^'^^ tame. It was the last session in Car- 
penter's term, and extended over the period of the campaign 
for his re-election, in which he was finally defeated by a few 
bolters, as we already know, after having been regularly 

nominated by a caucus of his part}^ However, he was ab- 

27 



4l8 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

sent from his seat but a few days, during the most exciting 
and decisive hours at Madison, where the legislature of Wis- 
consin was in session. 

ANOTHER PROPHECY FULFILLED 

B. F. Butler, of Massachusetts, reported in the house a 
civil rights bill similar to that drafted by Charles Sumner and 
defeated in the senate. Carpenter made a speech against 
those portions which he regarded as unconstitutional, em- 
phatically the clause providing qualifications for jurors in state 
courts. He quoted various decisions in support of his ob- 
jection to engrafting such a provision upon the statutes of the 
country; one by the supreme court of the United States, in 
i6 of Wallace, being particularly apt and conclusive. He 
contended that the right to serve on a jury in any state court 
was a right of state citizenship only,' not a right of United 
States citizenship, making use of this illustration: 

If the right to serve as juror in the state of Massachusetts, for instance, 
were a right which pertained to a citizen of the United States as such, then 
it would follow that a citizen of the United States, residing in New York 
or California, would have as much riglit to serve as a juror in the courts of 
Massachusetts as a citizen of the United States residing in that state. 

After combating the unconstitutionality of the measure 
generally, he closed: 

The supreme court of the United States, in two well considered decisions, 
have settled principles upon which the validity of this hill must be denied, 
and every circuit court in which a suit may be commenced under its provis- 
ions will be compelled, in proper judicial subordination, to rule against a 
secovery; its only effect, therefore, will be to involve the colored man in liti- 
gation in which he is certain to be defeated, "keeping the promise to his ear 
and breaking it to his hope." 

From the consideration which I have briefly stated, I am compelled to 
vote against the bill. I can understand how an orator like the senator from 
Indiana [Morton] could inflame the passions of a popular assembly and 

1 The United States supreme court has aflfirmed this doctrine clearly and 
emphatically. 



"attorney at law." 419 

rally it to suppor,t the provisions of this bill, but I confess my astonishment 
and my sorrow that he can carry along with him the higliest court of the 
land, the senate of the United States, and pass this bill through all the forms 
of enactment. I am consoled, however, by the confidence that, if it shall 
become a law, the judicial courts will intervene to vindicate the constitution. 

On October 15, 1883, this civil rights bill, before the United 
States supreme court on appeal, was held invalid and void, 
unconstitutional and inoperative, except in the territories and 
the District of Columbia. Thus is another prediction fulfilled 
to the letter. The opinion of the court, by Justice Bradley, 
contained several of the objections urged by Carpenter 
against the bill in the speech from which the foregoing ex- 
tracts are made. 

♦'ATTORNEY AT LAW." 

It is customary for visitors at Washington to purchase lib- 
erally the photographs of favorite senators, generally requir- 
ing an autograph upon each picture. Just before midnight 
of March 3, 1875, a page ran to Carpenter with a package 
of photographs, and asked an autograph upon each. Taking 
them in hand, he leaned back and waited patiently for the 
senate clock to point the hour of midnight. At that instant 
he seized a pen and wrote upon the several cards: "Matt. H. 
Carpenter, attorney at law.'''' He was no longer a senator. 
His first term expired at twelve o'clock and he was then 
simply an " attorney at law." 



420 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

RE-APPEARANCE IN THE SENATE. 

Having been elected to succeed T. O. Howe, Carpenter 
was sworn in as a senator of the forty-sixth congress on 
Tuesday, March i6, 1879, ^^ which day a special session 
was convened by President Hayes for the purpose of mak- 
ing the necessary federal appropriations, which had been 
refused by the previous democratic congress. He drew seat 
number forty-five, between John A. Logan, of Illinois, and 
Henry W. Blair, of New Hampshire. He was so cordially 
greeted on all sides, that although not in robust health, and 
having a heavy law practice on his hands that could not be 
relinquished, thus adding to his labors, he greatly enjoyed 
the return to congress. 

One of his principal constitutional speeches during this 
session was upon the case of John Bell, appointed by the 
governor of New Hampshire, under peculiar circumstances, 
as a senator from that state. The legislature adjourned its 
last regular session before the date of the expiration of Wad- 
leigh's term, March 3, 1879, without electing his successor. 
A new constitution had just been adopted, under which a 
new legislature would convene in June, 1879. ^" ^^^^ mean- 
time the governor appointed Bell to be a senator until the 
new legislature should organize and elect his successor. 
Carpenter contended that Bell had no right to a seat; that 
the governor possessed no power to appoint a senator at the 
end of a regularly expired term, and that the old legislature 
was not fmictiis officio until the day fixed for the meeting of the 
njw legislature, although the members of the new body 
might have been elected six or twelve months before. He 
demonstrated with more than ordinary conclusiveness that 
Bell could not be constitutionally seated, for the reason that 
the old legislature was in existence at the end of Wadleigh's 



FIGHTING THE MEXICANIZERS. 42 1 

term and should have chosen his successor, and because 
governors have power only to temporarily fill such vacancies 
in the United States senate as " happen " during a recess of the 
legislature "by death, resignation or otherwise" — meaning 
vacancies unexpectedly occurring between the beginning and 
end of some regular term that had been, by the legislature, 
regularly filled. Mr. Bell, however, received his seat, but 
during the next session of congress Carpenter presented a 
bill intended to forever debar from the future controversies 
of this kind. 

FIGHTING THE MEXICANIZERS. 

The democratic party, it must be stated here, had a ma- 
jority in both houses of congress. The leaders were dis- 
satisfied because the previ6us senate, after a lengthy and 
exhaustive investigation of the contest between Wm. P. Kel- 
logg and H. M. Spoflbrd, chosen by rival legislatures to 
represent Louisiana in the United States senate, decided 
that the former had been duly elected and was entitled to a 
seat. They therefore, having the sheer power of a partisan 
majority, determined to re-open the contest that had by' an- 
other senate been regularly and conclusively settled, drive 
out Kellogg and admit Spoflbrd. On this extraordinary 
proposition to Mexicanize the senate Carpenter delivered 
two arguments that will be referred to forever as settling the 
doctrine of res adjudicata in that body. In opening, he de- 
posed that he laughed on first hearing that the majority pro- 
posed to assail the seat of the senator from Louisiana, for 
" bad as the democrats had shown themselves to be," he 
" could not believe they would undertake anything so utterly 
revolutionary and so entirely unparalleled in partisan atroc- 
ity." He contended that Kellogg, having been admitted 
after a full and fair investigation, had a stronger title to his 
seat than any other member of the senate, the usual custom 
being to swear in senators on -prima facie cases without in- 
vestigations. 



422 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Kellogg's case, therefore, was res adjiidicata — settled for- 
'ever, beyond any power to re-open or reverse it. Other- 
wise, he said, every republican senator in the chamber could 
be expelled whenever the democrats might have a majority. 
He held that the senate, in determining who should consti- 
tute its members, acted in a judicial capacity and under the 
constitution, and its judgment, as in the case of impeach- 
ment, or like that of the United States supreme court, not 
being reviewable, was final and irreversible, " Otherwise," 
to use his exact words, "this absurd result follows: The 
senate, which under the constitution has the right to settle 
this question, never could settle it; * * and there is not a 
seat in this body that could not be taken away upon such a 
principle," 

Senator Hill, of Georgia, was the chief advocate of the 
scheme to re-investigate Kellogg's title to office, and with 
him Carpenter held his principal controversy. He drove 
Hill irresistibly before him, showing by the history of all 
nations how untenable and unnatural were his propositions. 
Hill finally intrenched himself behind the seductive and glit- 
tering sophism that " nothing could be settled until it was 
settled right," and renewed the attempt to unseat Kellogg at 
the next session. In arguing against this proposition, as ad- 
vocated by Senators Hill, Eaton, Thurman and Vest, Car- 
penter eclipsed many former efforts. He showed, by the 
decisions of three hundred years, that even the errors of a 
court of last resort do not affect the validity of its decisions 
nor give the prerogative of a reversal. The judgments of a 
court of finality must always, right or wrong, stand, else 
there could be no end of strife. His illustration was this: 

Judges have been iinpeached for judicial corruption; but there is not an 
instance in tlie judicial history of the world of a judgment ever reversed on 
that ground; and why? I go before a judge on the bench to-day, and say, 
"Your predecessor last year was corrupt, and rendered a judgment influ- 
enced by bribery; I want you to reverse it;" he is satisfied this is true, and 
reverses it. The other party comes back to his successor and says: "I 
got a judgment before an honest judge, but my opponent came next year to 



SHIELDS AND WEBSTER. 423 

a dishonest judge, and bribed him to reverse the honest judgment; I ask 
you to set it back again." He would be justified in setting it back. So a 
question could never be settled. 

He further illustrated the fallacy of Hill's proposition by- 
showing that if a man should, after having been admitted to 
a seat in the senate, be turned out the next year, because it 
was supposed evidence showing he was not a citizen of the 
United States had been discovered, he must be re-instated, 
if, in the third year, it should be discovered the evidence of 
the second year was false, and he really had been a citizen 
all the time ; and so on ad infinitum. In closing, he made an 
appeal to the democrats, which must have had effect, for 
they followed Carpenter's and not the advice of their own 
leader, Ben. Hill, and left Kellogg undisturbed: 

Now I beg that the senate shall not, in this temporary eclipse o- re- 
publicanism, suffer a degradation never charged upon it before. Let us 
have one place where law can be heard and be respected. Let us have one 
place where justice, without compulsion, without being strained, as they 
say mercy is not, is administered, and where political majorities have noth- 
ing to do with such questions. Not a fact has transpired since Kellogg was 
seated except that the political majority has changed. Let us decide this 
case so as to give to the whole country the assurance that the mere chang- 
ing of political sentiments of members in this chamber does not change the 
principles of action which govern the senate when it acts in a judicial 
capacity. 

SHIELDS AND WEBSTER. 

After the death of brave old General James Shields, a bill 
was presented authorizing his pension of $ioo per month to 
be continued to his widow and children, and it was proposed 
to amend it by providing also a pension for the widow of 
Colonel Webster. He made a short but resounding speech 
in favor of separate bills, declaring he wanted, when he did 
a handsome thing, to do it in a handsome way, and objected 
to having any law on the books that would look as though it 
was passed by means of log-rolling or a combination; " but 
let it appear that each man's name carried the pension to his 
own posterity." Thus the bills passed. 



424 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

A NATIONAL DISGRACE. 

Early in this special session Carpenter renewed his efforts 
to strengthen the judicial system and simplify and facilitate the 
administration of justice. His great knowledge of the prac- 
tice in all the courts rendered his efforts effective, and he 
had the sympathy of judges everywhere. He was particu- 
larly anxious to secure the co-operation of the senate on a 
measure to reconstruct a jury system for the federal courts. 
Referring to this very important matter, which is still a judi- 
cial scandal, on June 16, 1879, ^^^ said: 

There is no such thing as a trial by jury in any federal court that I know 
of. In our country it is a trial by the marshal and the clerk, who can con- 
vict or acquit any man they please by packing a jury. Our whole system 
of criminal jurisprudence in the federal courts is a disgrace to the nation. 
The theory adopted for compensating United States district attorneys is 
simply a scandal ; it is offering a bribe to thcin to produce convictions. We 
pay them, I believe, about $250 per year salary, and then give them so 
much for every fellow they can convict, and a smaller sum for an acquittal. 
In other words, they are bribed to convict a man if they possibly can. 

During his previous term in the senate he had tried in vain 
to secure a writ of error in criminal matters from federal 
courts to the United States supreme court, and in the speech 
trom which the preceding extract is made he thus referred 
to that subject: 

We have in the federal courts no perfect system for administering criminal 
justice. A man maybe sentenced in Oregon by a district (federal) judge 
for murder on a judgment notoriously erroneous; and yet, strange to say, 
there is no way whatever by which to reverse that decision. A man may 
come to the supreme court of the United States to try the title to his farm, 
if it be ot the value of $5,000; but if nothing but his life is at stake, no 
■writ of error shall be allowed, no appellate court shall hear an exception, no 
writ of error shall be issued under any circumstances. All that is simply 
disgraceful. 

He closed by begging the lawyers of the senate to join 
with him in working out a remedy for these judicial idiosyn- 
crasies, but each having his own ax to grind, they could not 
then be induced to comply with his request. Had he lived. 



FREE RIOTS ON ELECTION DAY. 425 

however, there can be no doubt that he would have succeeded 
in this undertaking. 

SEA-SICKNESS IN WASHINGTON. 

In making appropriations for the army, and especially 
in formulating regulations for the United States Military 
Academy, Carpenter's knowledge and advice were particu- 
larly valuable. He offered the clause to the army bill which 
repealed all laws preventing promotions in the regular army, 
and carefully watched the military school at West Point. He 
made no pretenses, however, in regard to the navy, and when, 
during the discussion. Senator Withers questioned him on this 
subject, he threw the senate into a roar by the reply, " I know 
nothing about the navy. I never sailed. I am sea-sick when- 
ever I pass the navy department." 

FREE RIOTS ON ELECTION DAY. 

By far the strongest speech of this session was that by 
Carpenter against the fifth clause of the army appropriation 
bill, which declared that "no money should be paid for the 
subsistence, equipment, transportation or compensation of any 
portion of the army of the United States to be used as a 
police force to keep the peace at the polls at any election held 
in the United States." 

The apparent viciousness of this clause, from the standpoint 
of one who loved his country more than his party, and sin- 
cerely desired honest elections, brought all of Carpenter's 
splendid powers into full play, heightened and intensified by 
the indignation he could not conceal. To him the bill was 
an unmasked attempt to render the government powerless 
to protect the ballot-box from those barbarous outrages 
which had rendered southern politics a reproach to free 
institutions and southern elections the very essence of traves- 
ties and tracredies. He held that under such a law the Pres- 
ident could not, as the constitution provides, send the army 



426 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

to quell any disturbance or riot at the polls, even when called 
upon by a state in the usual way. 

Although the measure was craftily worded, he said, in 
order to inveigle the President into signing what might to 
him have the outward appearance of innocence, it was in 
- reality the most dangerous assault upon the purity of the 

J ballot-box that had ever been attempted in a free coifntr}^ 

^^ and the courts, if called upon, would so construe its intent, 

" for (using his exact language) at the close of the last session 
it was openly declared in this chamber that the power of the 
President to employ the army to keep the peace at the polls 
must be given up or no appropriations would be made to 
y carry on the government. This compelled the extra ses- 

sion." 

As he progressed, gathering strength as he entered deeper 
into the iniquity of the subject, the opposidon could not keep 
silent under the tremendous destruction of his fire and his 
bolts. Senator Hill interrupted with a suggestion as to 
what constituted real loyalty, and informed him of the ways 
in which the government could be broken up. This was an 
unfortunate moment for the southern senator. Carpenter 
turned upon him with spirit, saying he always listened with 
reverence and attention to that teacher who was most famil- 
iar with the subject in hand. He therefore admitted the 
great qualification of Mr. Hill to instruct as to what would 
break up the government, for he had voted for secession, 
voted for the ordinance which took Georgia out of the Union, 
was one of Jefl'. Davis' chief advisers, and for four years 
had his hands on all the springs and did all in his power to 
destroy the government of the United States. 
t This terrible blow, whose force is but slightly indicated 

here, struck and disabled so many of the advocates of free 
; riot on election days that for a time it dazed and entirely 
silenced the opposition. Each interruption had brought 
from Carpenter a more efiective and disastrous sally, until 



FREE RIOTS ON ELECTION DAY. 427 

the free rioters became glad to hold their peace and give 
unobstructed sway to his arraignment. 

Before closing he made an argument to show the total 
unconstitutionality of the bill under section 2 of article 2, 
and then said: 

What look has this bill on its face? The President of the United States 
may use the money appropriated to clothe, equip, transport and compensate 
troops to keep the peace everywhere in the nation on three hundred and 
sixty-four days of the year, but one day in the year riot shall have full 
sway; one day in the year the administrative police force of this nation 
shall be manacled. It is said every dog shall have its day, and the demo- 
cratic senators have made up their minds that riot shall have its day, and 
that that day shall be the election day. All the unruly elements of society, 
all desperadoes and scoundrels have notice that election day is to be their 
carnival ; and the national power shall not be permitted to oppose or resist 
them. Why will our democratic friends insist here that, on that one day 
of the year, no military force shall be called out or used to put down riot 
and rebellion, and the confusion and violence that may exist at the polls 
for the purpose of breaking up or controlling an election.'' Why, with all 
the charity that a Christian can have for a Christian, there is not a child 
ten years old that would not answer, because they do not wish to have 
peaceable elections. There can be no other answer. 



428 LIFE OF CARPENTER, 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

A TEDIOUS SESSION. 

The second session of the forty-sixth congress began on 
Monday, December i, 1879, ^"^ continued until June 16, 
1880. It was long and very tedious to Carpenter, whos;' 
health had, in spite of his brave effort to conceal everything, 
begun to show the marks of decline. He was usually pres- 
ent, however, and watched all proceedings with his old-time 
scrutiny. 

On the fourth day of the session he presented this reso- 
lution : 

Whereas, The resumption of specie payments, the circulation of gold, 
silver and greenbacks as lawful money of the United States under existing 
laws, and the reasonable expectation that the present condition of the 
finances of the country will not be disturbed by precipitate legislation, 
have been followed by restoration of business confidence, revival of the 
industries of the country, and the inauguration of general prosperity; and, 

Whereas, Stability of financial policy is essential to the successful con- 
duct of business affairs; theretbre. 

Resolved^ That in the opinion of the senate any legislation during the 
present session of congress materially changing the existing system of 
finance would be inexpedient. 

Although the resolution was not formally adopted, it was 
printed, favorably commented upon by the press of the 
country, and exerted a wholesome influence throughout the 
session. 

THE BROKEN, TATTERED CONSTITUTION. 

There was hardly a day passed in which Carpenter did 
not hold up before the senate the constitution, and call the 
attention of the members to the fact that, notwithstanding its 
broken and tattered condition, it was still an instrument to be 
respected and followed in the business of framing laws. 
When Senator Windom, of Minnesota, moved a resolution 



THE SUPPLY OF INDIAN WARS. 429 

looking to the establishment of a department of agriculture 
and commerce, Carpenter asked if there was any lawyer in 
the senate who could point out what clause of the constitu- 
tion afforded power to establish any such department. He 
received, of course, no answer. 

When it was proposed to organize a national board of ed- 
ucation, he inquired what clause of the constitution commit- 
ted the educational interests of the country to the keeping of 
congress; and later, desired Senator Kernan to inform him 
where the authority to provide for an international exhibi- 
tion in New York, resided. Kernan replied that he did not 
wish to argue the case, -whereupon Carpenter said: 

We are going on here day after day under a written constitution, violating 
its provisions, until we get so accustomed to it that no man wants to take 
the trouble of explaining the necessity or propriety of it. This is a very 
small matter, but still it is in violation of the constitution, it is debauching 
the public mind, debauching the conscience of tlie senate, and ought not to 
be done. 

Senator Hoar asked if other things had not been done 
without the permission of the constitution. Carpenter re- 
plied: 

It is a very easy thing to justify any action that congress wants to take 
if it is a sufficient justification to say that congress has done such a thing. 
I do not know where would be the limit of our power, if we can first do a 
thing, and then next day justify the action because we did it the day before. 

THE SUPPLY OF INDIAN WARS. 

One of the peculiar and ingenious, as well as just, meas- 
ures reported by Carpenter^ was that imposing unusually 
heavy fines on white persons who should steal or embezzle 
from Indians. The senators from those states bordering on 
or containing Indian tribes offered every conceivable objec- 
tion to its passage, for the reason. Carpenter intimated, that 
it would cripple, if not entirely destroy, one of their principal 
industries. The bill, he said, was " for the purpose of cutting 

1 Drawn originally b}' Senator Saunders. 



430 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

off the supply of Indian wars." Nearly all Indian outbreaks, 
he maintained, were provoked by white men. The Indians 
had laws for punishing their own criminals, but they could 
not reach the principal rascals, who were white men. 

A very interesting debate sprung from this measure, for 
the reason that Ingalls and other senators raised the objection 
that all Indians born in the United States were, under the 
fourteenth amendment, citizens thereof. The fallacy of this 
reasoning was quickly illustrated by Carpenter. The United 
States can not make treaties with its own citizens, but it can 
enter into treaty agreements with " other nations and with 
the Indian tribes" — the latter being ^/^5/- nations; there- 
fore, Indians holding and living under tribal relations are not 
citizens of the United States. 

When a bill was pending authorizing the purchase of nine 
hundred acres of land in Texas for Fort Stockton at $18,000, 
Carpenter was the first senator to point out that the price 
was outrageously unjust, as but a short time before the land 
was sold by the government for $1.25 per acre, and that the 
scheme to purchase it back at $20 per acre was evidently a 
job. 

When the resolution to destroy the legal-tender power of 
greenbacks came up, he did not support it. It is scarcely 
necessary to record that the measure was defeated. 

FITZ JOHN PORTER. 

The great speech of this session was delivered March 6th 
by Carpenter against the bill for the relief of Fitz John Por- 
ter. Under a military order signed November 27, 1862, Gen- 
eral Porter was tried for insubordination and disobedience by 
a court-martial consisting of Major- General David Hunter, 
Major-General E. A. Hitchcock, Brigadier -Generals Rufus 
King, J3. M. Prentiss, James B. Ricketts, Silas Casey, James 
A. Garfield and U. B. Buford, and Brevet Brigadier-General 
W. W. Morris, with Colonel J. Holt as advocate-general. 
By that court he was sentenced " to be cashiered from the 



FITZ JOHN PORTER. 43 1 

army, and forever disqualified from holding any office of 
trust or profit under the government of the United States." 
The sentence was approved by President Lincoln January 19, 
1863. The measure, against the passage of which Carpenter 
put-his strength, provided that the President might set aside 
and amend these findings and " restore Porter to all the 
rights, rank, title and privileges which he would have had if 
there had been no court-martial." 

It is well known that all soldiers, especially the graduates of 
the United States Military Academy, are bound together for 
life by those hardy bonds which are not less strong and 
hardlv less tender than family ties. They are, under common 
circumstances, brothers everywhere, and defenders always of 
each other. The fact, therefore, that Carpenter and Porter 
were students together at West Point renders doubly inter- 
esting the conspicuous opposition of the former to the abso- 
lution and restoration of the latter, and shows that when a 
great principle was at stake Carpenter could not be swerved 
by comrade-courtesy or the ties of friendship from doing fear- 
lessly and energetically what he believed to be right. 

Against the passage of this bill he contended with sturdy 
power and intense earnestness. He showed so clearly and 
conclusively that congress was utterly powerless to interfere 
with, set aside or amend the sentences of regularly organized 
courts, that no one attempted to answer or controvert his 
propositions. There was no earthly authority, he said, save 
that invested in the President to grant pardons, that could 
reach in a regular and legal way the case of Porter. Con- 
gress could no more set aside the verdict of the court that 
cashiered Porter than it could declare that verdict insufficient, 
and condemn him to be shot. No one could claim, he showed 
by abundant authority, that congress had power to say Porter 
was insufficiently punished, and thereupon sentence him to be 
shot; and, conversely, congress was absolutely without power 
to say the sentence was unjust or too heavy, and thereupon 
relieve him from its operation. 



432 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

He entered upon an exhaustive exhibit to show that courts- 
martial are legal and regular, and as completely beyond the 
baleful interference of congress as any other courts in the 
land, and that no senator could vote for the pending biU with- 
out violating the constitution and violating his oath of office. 

It was in truth a mighty speech, the force of mere extracts 
from which is weakened and destroyed by being separated 
from their surrounding supports and bulwarks. As a legal 
argument it was not simpl}'^ incontrovertible, it was absolutely 
unassailable. As an assault upon the enemy it was irresisti- 
ble, victorious. It whelmed the advocates of the bill like a 
flood, swept them down like an avalanche, yet he indulged in 
no eloquence until the close: 

Mr. President, I have no feeling against Fitz John Porter of any kind. 
I was with him a year at the academy at West Point. I had always es- 
teemed him until this affair occurred. In all his former history in tiie army, 
no man ever questioned his courage, no man ever questioned his devotion to 
the flag. He stood high; he performed his du y well, and was entitled to 
praise and credit, and had it too from all sources; he was brevetted for gal- 
lant conduct, but as the senator from Illinois well said yesterday, those 
things become aggravations oi his offense under the circumstances of this 
case. 

The testimony here, which I have examined prettj' fully, convinces me, 
not that Porter was disloyal to the Union, not that Porter meant that the 
south should succeed in breaking up the government, but he was devoted 
to McClellan; McClellan was the idol of his heart and the star of his hope. 
He wanted to see McClellan succeed first. He wanted to see our cause 
prosper, but he wanted McClellan to lead us to victory. He was the man 
to whom he was attached, the man on whom all the affections of his heart 
seemed to be centered; and it was bitter as death to him when McClellan 
was supplanted in command and succeeded by a man for whom he seems 
to have had great contempt. That was the fault and caused the fall of Fitz 
John Porter, who, like Lucifer, fell, never to rise again. 

Why, look at the offense of which he has been convicted — and I think 
the testimony sustains the finding of the court. There a battle was raging, 
upon which the fate of this nation might be depending. Orders were is- 
sued to him again and again, which he disregarded; which he flatly dis- 
obeyed; and when, finally, in obedience to the positive order to come and 
report on the battle-field to Pope in person, he did come up, he came up, 
as it is said, without one of his brigades, and so tardily as to show that he 
had no wish for Pope's success, ar.d no desire to obey the order. Why, 



FITZ JOHN PORTER. 433 

Mr, President, life depended on his obedience — the life of an army, per- 
haps the life of a nation. If General Porter should go down the avenue 
to-day and kill a man he would be indicted, tried, sentenced and hanged — 
life for life. Upon this admeasurement of justice, what shall be done with 
a nian who, by his criminal conduct, sacrificed the lives of twenty thousand 
soldiers? The battles rendered necessary in consequence of his neglect of 
duty, but for which we would have had a victory on the first day, as the 
senator from Illinois stated yesterday, resulted in the loss of about twenty 
thousand men. Upon this principle of admeasurement, if Fitz John Por- 
ter had twenty thousand lives, they were all forfeited to the state. 

The people of my own state, I know, felt it keenly. The loss fell heavily 
upon us. What was called the " Iron Brigade " in the Army of the Po- 
tomac was mads up of three Wisconsin regiments and one Irom Indiana, 
I think the Nineteenth Indiana, as brave a body of men as ever trod a bat- 
tle-field; a body of men who, for heroism, for endurance in the privations 
of war, and for soldierly bearing and conduct everywhere, would not suffer 
by comparison with the Old Guard of Napoleon. In one of the battles of 
that campaign, this brigade lost, in killed and wounded, one-third of its 
numbers. This was before Porter's disobedience of orders ; but as the cam- 
paign was turneJ from a success to a defeat by Porter's disobedience, all 
their lives were sacrificed in vain, which otherwise would have been a part 
of the pr'ce paid for the success of the campaign. Every train of cars that 
penetrated the interior states for months afterward came freighted with the 
sacred remains of our slaughtered soldiers. They were piled up at railway 
stations like merchandise. They sleep now in the graves that dot every 
high hill and every green valley in Wisconsin. Our people will not soon for- 
get Fitz John Porter. They will never forgive him. They would not soon 
forget me, and never forgive me, if I should stand here as their representa- 
tive and vote to put Porter back where he would have been if he had nof 
committed this unspeakable crime, and pay him all that he would have had 
if he had remained in the service and served his country faithfully. 

Queer things are being done these days. This thing may be done by the 
senate. It will not be done by my vote. Were I to vote for this bill I. 
should fancy that the tears of widows and orphans were moistening the 
dust at my feet; I should imagine that the disembodied spirits, the frown- 
ing shades of twenty thousand soldiers, slaughtered in vain, were muster- 
ing in this chamber to scourge me from my seat. Nevertheless, Mr. 
President, God's will be done. It may be that even this last travesty upon 
justice is necessary. They tell us that whom the gods mean to destroy 
they first make mad. It may be, although it seems impossible, that the dem- 
ocrats are not mad enough yet to insure their total destruction. This last 
act may be needed to convince the American people that, to insure a proper 
discrimination between virtue and vice, to fix the proper ban on disloyalty 



434 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

<«nd hold rebellion in check, we need in the White House once more the 
steady hand, the cool head and the patriotic heart of U. S. Grant.l 

The closing of his speech was followed by such an ova- 
tion of applause as had rarely been heard in the senate 
chamber. The principles laid down in it have since been 
regarded as conclusive against the right of congress to inter- 
fere with the regular judgments of legally constituted courts. 

Carpenter had sat two days out in listening to the argu- 
ments on the case and expected to speak after Logan; but 
too ill to proceed, he asked the senate to adjourn. That 
night he could not sleep, and earl}' on the following morning 
sent for Dr. Baxter. When the physician arrived Car- 
penter inquired: " How am I?" Baxter shook his head. 
Carpenter then said he was about to speak at length in the 
senate, and asked for a strong anodyne. The phvsician re- 
fused to prescribe it, but told Carpenter he must not speak. 
*' If you do," he said, " I shall not be responsible for your 
life." 

The reply was that Porter's insubordination and disobe- 
dience was at the cost of hundreds of lives as dear and val- 
uable as his own, and he should go ahead, deeming the cause 
sacred and worthy of any sacrifice. With Baxter's gloomy 
warning ringing in his ears he sent for a prescribed nerving, 
swallowed thirty drops of it and started for the senate cham- 
ber. He begged the escort of his law partner, who, waiting 
in the cloak-room until the hour for the speech arrived, again 
poured thirty drops of the assuaging draught. Carpenter 
drank it and began his memorable address. If this is not 
the bravery of martyrdom, let those who know tell us what 
it is. 

A TILT WITH BLAINE. 

It was during this session that Carpenter had his famous 
tilt with James G. Blaine. A controversy had arisen between 

1 Just three years from this time Genera! Grar.t completely changed his 
position on the merits of Fitz John Porter's case, and wrote an article in the 
North American Review advoratin}' the annulment ol his sentence. 



A TILT WITH BLAINE. 



435 



the .temporary presiding officer, Mr. Rollins, and Blaine. It 
had progressed for some minutes when Carpenter jocosely 
remarked that he was unwilling to have such a grave ques- 
tion pass into history without his name being connected with 
it. He then, from his experience as a presiding officer, very 
clearly explained the question at issue, his conclusion being 
on the side of the chair. 

Apparently nettled, Blaine at once turned his attention 
from the real controversy, and made a spirited assault upon 
Carpenter. He announced, with some bravado, that he had 
been very fortunate in not entering the senate while Carpen- 
ter was presiding " with such absolute and reckless disregard 
of the common and ordinary rules of politeness." Carpenter 
did not notice the apparent anger of Blaine, but replied with 
his usual mellow jocularity, setting the senate off into laugh- 
ter. He then went over the ground again, to convince 
Blaine, if possible, that the ruling of the temporary presiding 
officer was in strict accordance with good usage and settled 
principles, and that the discomfiture of the senator from 
Maine was wholly unwarranted. He closed, however, with 
a seasoning of sarcasm, referring in pretty plain terms to the 
insolence of his assailant. Blaine's argument, as appears in 
the Record, was principally one of sharp words, while Car- 
penter quoted general principles, numerous decisions, and 
high references. By these means, it may be said that, if he 
did not silence Blaine, he compelled him to desist. 

But, unlike Carpenter, Blaine remembered the rancor of 
the day, and two weeks later, during the heated discussion 
on the distribution of the Geneva award on the Alabama 
claims, carried it again into the public proceedings of the 
senate. Again the Record shows, though the harshest feat- 
ures of the wordy melee were eliminated before publication, 
that Blaine was not wholly without fault. 

He read what Carpenter regarded as a mysterious doc- 
trine concerning the case, in support of his position. Car- 
penter inquired : " What does the senator read from } " The 



43^ LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

reply was that it was " from a document." Carpenter put 
forth the query: "A document from the departments?" and 
Blaine replied that he was not compelled to tell what he read 
from. This skirmish brought a renewal of the battle with 
increased fury. Carpenter charged Blaine with having pur- 
posely brought it on originally without cause, exclaiming: 
" My experience has taught me never to encourage and 
never to decline a row — never to make a personal assault 
upon any one. I have learned that when one is made upon 
me to repel it as well as I can. When a man treats me in- 
solently, I reply in the same vein as near as I can." 

The affair then fell into a rapid whirl of savage cut and 
thrust, in which finally Carpenter compared Grant's high 
praise of the labors of the American members of the Geneva 
arbitrators with the leer of Blaine, who had declared that they 
"hustled up through the bushes into the mountains, went 
into a cave, chalked on a barn door, split the ditlerence, and 
awarded fifteen and one-half millions." Blaine then began 
to parry with some abstract praise of Grant, whereupon 
Carpenter begged him to desist, else he would surely ruin 
the great general. Just how the matter would have ended 
no one can predict, if Thurman, with an exceedingly happy 
tui n, had not interposed at this point " that, as the two sen- 
ators had set themselves right on the third-term question, the 
regular order should proceed." Thus, the intense interest 
of the senate in the contest between these two giant debaters 
was turned instantaneously into laughter. 

It may now be properly stated that at that moment Blaine 
was a candidate for the presidency and Carpenter a strong 
advocate of a third term for Grant. These things being 
well known, and the ability of the two men being a matter of 
common fame, it can excite no wonder to record that the 
senate chamber filled to its utmost capacity with distin- 
guished people anxious to witness the skirmish. In close con- 
nection with this relation, it must be stated that there was no 
break in the friendly relations that had always existed be- 



THE GENEVA AWARD. 437 

tween Carpenter and Blaine in their social intercourse, and a 
few days later the two joined hands in a tremendous battle 
against the attempt of the democrats to unseat W. P. Kel- 
logg as a senator from Louisiana in a manner already re- 
corded. That man must indeed be great who is above petty 
hatreds and revenge. 

THE GENEVA AWARD. 

The most weighty though not the most popular speech de- 
livered by Carpenter at this session was that on the distribu- 
tion of the Geneva award. He held that as the award at 
Geneva had been made upon the array of individual claims 
(set forth in detail under oath) laid before the commission, 
the aggregate of those that were considered valid being 
equal to the amount decided upon as due from Great Britain 
to the United States, there was no just and honorable mode 
of distribution except to those individuals upon whose losses 
the judgment had been founded. 

Senator Blaine and others held that the insurance compa- 
nies whose claims were allowed, and to liquidate which a sum 
of money was set aside by the Geneva arbitrators, should not 
receive any of the award in the distribution being made by the 
United States government. Carpenter contended to the con- 
trary, fortified by all the terms of the so-called Alabama treaty 
under which the award was made, by all the minutes and 
proceedings of the arbitrators, and by all the official circulars 
sent out by our own government in making up a case against 
Great Britain. His opponents merely contended that the 
award was a national one, made simply in the abstract for 
injury to the federal government, and that the cash thus ob- 
tained could be divided by congress in any way it might elect. 

This theory Carpenter combated by something more than 
mere argument and sound logic. He showed that the 
daims presented in the name of the United States as a na- 
tion amounted to $3,400,887, while those of individuals ag- 
gregated $19,021,428.61. Great Britain objected to the 



438 LIFE OF CARPENTER. * 

so-called " indirect claims " of the general government and 
they were all abandoned, so that the award was linally made 
*' solely on the claims for individual losses as made to the ar- 
bitrators at their own request." Not only this, but one of 
the arbitrators informed Carpenter and Mr. Pierce, of Massa- 
chusetts, that the award was made on the claims of the 
underwriters, and Carpenter declared that with all just men 
the irresistible conclusion must be, that as the award was 
made upon a certain list of claims (including those of the in- 
surance companies) the distribution could only be equitable 
when It liquidated the losses enumerated therein. 

RED TAPE. 

Toward the close of the session Carpenter made a brief 
speech against the oonoxious system of red-tapeism in vogue 
in the departments, that might stand as an axiom, for it is as 
true to-day as it had been for years before his utterance. He 
protested against it on the ground of public policy, saying 
the great maxim of " honesty is the best policy " applied to 
nations as well as individuals: 

I have for many ycar^ wondered that any man out of a lunatic asylum 
would make a contract with the United States upon any subject whatever. 
He certainly subjects himself, his fortunes, all he has, and all he hopes to get 
In this world, to the will and pleasure of congress, or to the arbitrary will 
and pleasure or the hatred and malice of an executive officer in one of 
these departments. 

He then related that whenever A. T. Stewart " sold any 
article for the White House, when he sold to the United 
States of America," he invariably added twenty per cent, tp 
the usual price to cover the expense, trouble and delay of 
passing his bill through the interminable red tape of the de- 
partments. 

PURE ELECTIONS. 

Shortly before adjournment he offered an iron-clad bill 
of some length, intended to preserve the purity of the bal- 
lot-box. It provided that any person convicted of intimida- 



PURE ELECTIONS. 439; 

tion, bribery or bull-dozing; of offering, depositing, procuring 
or counting an unlawful ballot; of creating or participating 
in any election riot or disturbance; of unlawful registration or 
any other offense mentioned in the act, including political mur- 
der, should receive a more severe punishment than had ever 
before been provided. He fought for this measure section 
by section and clause by clause, but the democratic majority 
made it impossible for him to pass it. 

Among the special matters upon which Carpenter set his 
heart was that of obtaining an increase of pension for Com- 
modore Wm. B. Whiting, of Milwaukee. Whiting had 
been for many years unable to leave his bed except by the 
strength of others, and Carpenter devoted a large amount 
of labor to overcoming the obstacles in the way of obtaining 
an increase. He was determined to make the old naval of- 
ficer, who had been disabled a quarter of a century, comfor- 
table, and, after several years of effort, was successful. 



440 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

CLOSING LABORS. 

The third session of the forty-sixth congress began Decem- 
ber 6, 1880, but Carpenter was, for the first time, not in his 
seat. The pubhc had been informed that he was in poor 
health, but, although he did not appear in the senate until 
December 13th, he was so buoyant and hopeful that it was 
not supposed he could be in a precarious condition. And if 
any such idea had previously been entertained, it was for the 
time entirely dispelled, when, on the day he took his seat, he 
renewed his opposition to the bill proposing to restore to the 
army Fitz John Porter. He was pale and thin, but his 
manner was vivacious, his eyes bright and luminous and his 
mind clearer than ever. 

On January 7th, when the consular and diplomatic appro- 
priation bill was under discussion, he objected to setting 
aside $9,500 for the care of prisoners and $1,500 for rent of 
jails in which to confine American prisoners in China, and 
ofTered an amendment striking out those sums. 

His speech on the subject was a revelation and a marvel to 
most of the lawyers of the senate. It was as clear and con- 
vincing as any ever heard in the chamber, and contained the 
last of his long series of appeals to maintain the constitution 
inviolate. In it he exposed some extraordinary facts relative 
to the irregular administration of justice by American con- 
sular and diplomatic agents, not generally known, and cer- 
tainly not generally appreciated. As it was Carpenter's . 
dying speech, that is, the last he delivered upon earth, the \ 
I essential parts of it, which are exceedingly interesting, will be 
herein preserved: 

I wish some senator familiar with the constitution and who has leisure, 
would inform this body what right we have to try a man in China without 
• judge, without a jury, without any constitutional jurisdiction whatever. 



CLOSING LABORS. * 44I 

Men are being tried for crimes frequently in China, Turkey and elsewhere; 
some have been tried ibr murder and are awaiting execution, as I am told, 
and I would like to know, just lor the peace of my own conscience as a 
senator, what authority we have to vote money to keep them in jail until 
somebodj' can hang them by judicial murder. The constiiution says that 
no man shall be tried for crime except upon the presentment of a grand 
jury. They are in prison now in every one of these countries, Japan, 
China, and Turkey, and I assert here that they are in prison there in viola- 
tion of the constitution ot the United States. 

Between China, for instance, and the United States a treaty removes all 
cause of national offense. China, if it chooses to let us do it, can make no 
complaint. It we hang our own people and half of hers, it might be a 
blessing to her as far she is concerned; but when you come to our power to 
do what China is willing we should do, you must point to some provision in 
the constitution which gives us the right. I have looked thoroughly for it, 
and I can not find it. 

I am opposed to this whole proceeding. It has resulted already in China 
and in Japan in such proceedings on the part of our diplomatic representa- j 
tives there as are simply a disgrace to this nation in the eyes of all nations. ' 
A diplomatic representative of the United States on one occasion embez- 
zled from the United States a large sum of money; he invested it in bonds 
and mortgages in his own name. He sat as sole judge in his own court and 
foreclosed the mortgage in his own name. He ordered the property to be 
sold by the marshal, or whatever officer carried his decrees into effect. The 
sale took place; the officer appeared at the sale and bought in the property 
himself. He then went back on the bench and confirmed the sale to him- 
self Such a thing would have made such a noise in Great Britain that the 
atmosphere could not have held it; but we have become so indifferent to 
constitutional provisions, so careless of the fundamental and essential rights 
and principles of freedom, that these things go on and we sit here and vote 
appropriations to carry them on, in flat, plain violation of the constitution, 
of every principle of Magna C/iarta, of the rights of all men ; and it ceases 
to excite the least surprise or attention. 

I concede that if an American citizen commits larceny in China, for 
which he would be beheaded, it is a favor to that citizen to rescue him from 
the ax and send him to jail for a few months. But it is said that this power 
is conferred upon the United States by the treaty with the foreign nation. 
Learned senators will see, if they will reflect one moment, that the United 
States can receive no power whatever from a foreign nation. 

To test this for a moment, suppose we should make a treaty with Great 
Britain by which we should provide that we would confer titles of nobility 
upon certain persons in the United Stales. I ask, and that brings the mat- 
ter to a proper test, does that treaty we have made with England, promising 
to confer a title of nobility upon some person, give congress the power to do 



442 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

what the constitution says shall not be done? In other words, does the 
treaty-making power, which is a creature of the constitution, override the 
constitution itself, and enable congress, in pursuance of a treaty, to do what 
is expressly forbidden by other clauses and provisions of the constitution 
itself? 

Therefore, when you come to the right of hanging a man in China for 
murder, or when you come down to sending him to prison two weeks for 
murder, when the emperor of China might hang him or behead him, al- 
though you do the fellow a favor, under what authority do you do it? The 
senator from Massachusetts says under authority derived from the emperor 
/ of China. I deny that the government of the United States can exercise 
any authority derived from anybody or anything except the constitution of 
I the United States. I deny that the monarchy of Great Britain can clothe 
us with powers denied to us by the constitution; I deny that Ihe emperor 
of China can do any such thing; and although it be to exercise power upon 
our citizens, I deny that our government, as a government, can do it. 

If any senator will read the statutes conferring judicial powers upon con- 
sulate officers, I am certain he will be very much astonished. It is a dele- 
gation, not only of all the powers of this government, but of the powers of 
all governments. This consul or minister, who is thus clothed with judi- 
cial power, is authorized to administer the constitution of the United States, 
the statutes of the United States, and exercise all jurisdiction at law and in 
equity, and admiralty and maritime jurisprudence; and when the law falls 
short, then the common law of England and all of its provisions, and when 
that fails, the statute declares in express words that he may pass ordinances, 
which shall have the force of law; and they apply not only to resident 
Americans who go to China to reside and carry on trade or business, but 
. they apply to every American who may, by chance, or accident, or the 
wild winds of heaven, be driven upon that shore by shipwreck. If the sen- 
ator from Georgia, traveling in the east, should be sailing by one of these 
countries, and, by adverse winds, be blown into the jurisdiction of one of 
these Ainerican consuls, he may find himself confronted with an ordinance 
made by that consul declaring some conduct of his a crime, which in the 
United States would be entirely innocent, be arrested and tried by the man 
who made the ordinance, without a jury, and be sentenced to be executed 
the next day at four o'clock in the morning. And the senator is about to 
vote an appropriation of money which, at some future day, may be used to 
aid in his own arbitrary execution, if adverse winds and waves should waft 
him into that jurisdiction. 

I trust no such misfortune will ever ovcrt.ikc the senator from Georgia. 
But if it should, I fear there are persons malicious enough to smile and ex- 
claim that it was a visitation of poetic justice upon a senator wJio had made 
it possible that such calamity could befall any citizen. In other words, he 
who had digged a pit for his neighbor had fallen into it himself. 



THE DISGRACE STILL A DISGRACE. 443 

That such a statute could ever have passed congress, and especially that 
it could have passed when Daniel Webster was in tlie senate, as I believe it 
did, is matter of astonishment. 

I must apologize to senators who have charged me with having been on 
the judiciary committee for several years without having brought for- 
ward a bill for the repeal of these statutes. I must say, and I say truth- 
fully, that until within two years I had no more idea that such a provision 
could be found in any statutes passed by congress than I had that I should 
be hanged myself by the judgment of a lamp-lighter. 

I offered the amendment more for the purpose of calling the attention of 
the sena'e to this subject than for any other purpose; for I should like to 
know how many senators think there is a plausible excuse for continuing 
an unconstitutional thing. 

It is said here by some senators that we have done this and that, even 
conceding it to be all wrong; yet, inasmuch as we have been doing it for 
some years now, it would be inconsistent to say we will not do it next year; 
that that would not look well as a part of the policy of a great nation. 
Well, I am rather inclined to the opinion that when we become fairly sat- 
isfied that we have been doing wrong for five years, it is manly and proper 
to sav we will not do it next year, nor ever thereafter. 

If human right is thought to be of any consequence in this congress, we 
can certainly pass a bill within the next forty days. So I will stand by 
my amendment, and see who is in favor of it and who is against it. 

THE DISGRACE STILL A DISGRACE. 

* 

So Carpenter adhered to his motion to strike out the ap- 
propriation for the maintenance of illegal courts and jails irr 
China, closing his adjuration for an inviolate constitution and 
human rights, from sheer exhaustion, in his seat. His 
motion to strike out was voted down, nearly two to one, and 
then, weak and suffering, he at once set about framing a law 
for the establishment, in all foreign countries in which the 
necessary permission could be secured, of a system of regular 
and constitutional courts. But, as though the Fates had set 
the seal of perpetuity on the disgraceful judicial system of the 
United States in foreign countries. Carpenter passed from 
the earth's great senate a few days later, with the books, 
decisions and documents he had gathered for correct infor- 
mation as to his proposed law, piled around his dying couch. 
In fact, after he was forced to his bed for the last time, he 



444 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

caused these papers and volumes to be put within reach 
upon the coverlets, and, bolstered up with pillows, proceeded, 
with feeble hand but with undiminished mental strength and 
enthusiasm, to correct the evils pointed out in the foregoing 
extracts from his last speech. But death, which recognizes 
neither constitutions nor the outrages of consular courts, 
found the task incomplete ; and thus, unfortunately, it remains 
to this day. 

On the 13th of January Carpenter appeared for a short 
period in his seat, and in a few brief sentences called atten- 
tion to discrepancies in a petty appropriation bill. Likewise, 
on the following day, he was present a few moments, and 
spoke for probably two minutes on the unconstitutionality of 
a bill to appropriate money for an " International Sanitary 
Conference." He voted with ten others against its passage, 
and then voted, on Friday, January 14th, for an adjourn- 
ment until the following Monday. 

That was the last time the fascinating music of the voice 
of Matt. H. Carpenter was ever heard in the chamber of the 
United States senate. Thus, it may be said, he died with 
the name of the constitution, which had been his earthly 
deity, upon his lips. 

Clay, after long and honorable service, was permitted to 
retire from the senate with calm farewells, mingling wisdom 
with tenderness and advice with forgiveness; but Carpenter, 
like an advancing meteor whose growing brightness had not 
yet reached its full burst of splendor, suddenly darkled and 
fell into the abysmal chambers of eternity, leaving missions 
unended and adieus unspoken. 



COMMITTEES AND COMMITTEE SERVICE. 445 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE. 

The laurels Carpenter won as an orator, debater and con- 
stitutional lawyer on the floor of the senate were hardly- 
more creditable than those won as president fro tempore of 
that body. He was accorded the almost unprecedented 
honor of being chosen during his first term ^ to preside, and at 
once became not only the most popular but one of the most 
just occupants of that high and difficult position. 

Schuyler Colfax has said Carpenter was the best presid- 
ing officer he ever saw. That, as far as opinions have been 
expressed, was the general verdict of his republican asso- 
ciates and the cordial judgment of his political opponents. 
The democrats loved to have him in the chair. He made no 
partisan decisions either against them or in favor of the re- 
publicans. 

He was a learned lawyer, a quick and sound reasoner, not 
a bitter partisan, a lover of fair play, a possessor of infinite 
good humor, an expert in parliamentary laws and usages, 
and a person of attractive and commanding appearance. 
Such qualities, united with less tact and clearness than Car- 
penter possessed, would have made him a popular presiding 
officer. But all these, united with never-ending bonhomie^ 
graceful courtesy and a healing manner of determining dis- 
putes, made him in all respects the model president of the 
highest deliberative body in the Western Hemisphere. 

COMMITTEES AND COMMITTEE SERVICE. 

If the secret and arduous labors of the committee-room, 
which the people never see except in compact and digested 
results, could be written, then would appear the real states- 

1 December 11, 1873, on motion of Senator Anthony, by a vote of two to 
one in his favor. 



446 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

manship, the full learning, the varied aoilities and the true 
service of Carpenter in the senate. During the four ses- 
sions of the forty-first congress he was a member of the 
committees on judiciary, patents and revision of the laws of 
the United States, and gave an enormous amount of labor to 
each of them. In addition to serving on these committees, 
he was, during the fort3'-second congress, chairman of the 
committee on enrolled bills and a member of the important 
committee on privileges and elections. In the forty-third 
congress there was no change in his positions, except that he 
was made chairman of the committee to audit and control 
the contingent expenses of the senate. The forty-sixth con- 
gress was controlled by the democrats; therefore Carpenter 
had no chairmanships, and, at his own request, served upon 
but two committees — those on judiciary and foreign rela- 
tions. 

Many, in fact more than a majority, of the reports on im- 
portant subjects presented by these committees during his 
terms were drafted by Carpenter; and, in addition, by com- 
mon consent, the duty of making reports for most of the 
various special committees on which he served also devolved 
upon him. Some of these constitute most interesting and val- 
uable contributions to state literature and information; but, 
unfortunately, they do not lind their way out to any appre- 
ciable extent for the enlightenment of the public. Fre- 
quently there is a clash between the house of representatives 
and the senate, and committees are appointed to settle the 
differences. Many of Carpenter's rejiorts and "views" in 
such matters, especially as in the case of bills for changing 
the tariiT, where each house clings to certain constructions of 
the constitution, were, and will always remain, of great value. 

Some of his reports have been drawn from in their natural 
order, others may properly be referred to here. The proper 
relations of the Pacific railways to the government is one of 
moment and not yet fully settled. In 1871 he was on a com- 
mittee " to inquire and report whether the railway companies 



COMMITTEES AND COMMITTEE SERVICE. 447 

which have received aid in bonds of the United States are 
lawfully bound to re-iniburse the United States for interest 
paid on such bonds before the maturity of the principal 
thereof, and, if so, what legislation, if an}^, is necessary to 
compel such re-imbursement; and by resolution of February 
16, 187 1, were instructed to inquire and report as to the ricrht 
of the treasury department to retain all the compensation tor 
services rendered for the United States by the Union Pacific 
railroad and its branches, to apply on the interest of the 
bonds issued by the United States to aid in the construction 
of roads." After an exhaustive argument he brought in 
a report: 

1. That the companies are not lawfully bound to re-imburse the govern- 
ment any interest paid by the government on these bonds until the 
maturity of the principal of said bonds, except that one-half of the com- 
pensation for services for the government may be retained by the govern- 
ment, and five per cent, of the net proceeds of the roads must also be 
annually applied to the payment of said bonds and interest thereon; and 

2. That the secretary of the treasury has no right to withho'd from the* 
company more than one-half of the compensation due the company for 
services performed for the government. 

There was a time, after the adoption of the fourteenth 
amendment, that certain states, in order to increase their 
population and representation in congress and national con- 
ventions, desired their Indian tribes to be merged into the 
general mass of citizens, " subject to the jurisdiction of the 
United States." On this subject, in 1870, Carpenter made a 
report which still stands as setthng the relations between the 
federal government and the Indian tribes. His argument, 
though compact, is of greater length than is permissible 
here, but his conclusion was: 

That the Indian tribes within the limits of the United States and the 
individuals, members of such tribes, while they adhere to and form a part 
of the tribes to which they belong, are not, within the meaning of the 
fourteenth amendnient, '■'^ subjrct to the Jurisdiction''^ of the United States; 
and, therefore, that such Indians have not become citizens of the United 
States by virtue of that amendment; and if your committee are correct in 
this conclusion, it follows that the treaties heretofore made between the 
United States and the Indian tribes are not annulled by that amendment. 



448 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

On " a bill to further protect the polls in the election of 
President, Vice-President, and members of congress, author- 
izing and directing the secretary of the interior to contract 
with the patentee of the safety ballot-box for the use of polls 
throughout the United States in the election of President, 
Vice-President, and members of congress, provided that said 
power to use and cost thereof shall not exceed the sum of 
$15 a box," in June, 1874, Carpenter submitted this report: 

The box seems to be ingenious in design, simple and cheap in construc- 
tion, and durable in material. It is made of cast iron and glass, and it is 
claimed that with it ballot-box stuffing is impossible except with the conniv- 
ance of the officers of election and the candidates on both sides. 

All are aware of the deplorable effects of frauds at the polls, as seen 
especially in the elections in cities and densely-populated neighborhoods, 
and of the dangers that menace our political future from the same source. 
Repeating, false counts and ballot-box stuffing are the usual forms of such 
frauds, and it is superfluous to dwell upon the importance of any device 
which can prevent their perpetration. This invention promises to put an 
end to ballot-box stuffing. 

The elections of electors for President and Vice-President are, however, 
held under the control of state officers, in obedience to state laws, and con- 
gress has no jurisdiction over them. The elections of members of congress 
are held at the same time as those of state and other subordinate officials, 
the elections of all of whom are wholly under the jurisdiction of the states. 
The committee, therefore, deem it inexpedient to go further than to express 
their approbation of the purpose of this invention, and to recommend to the 
states the adoption of this or some similar device for the protection of the 
ballot-box 

OFFICIAL LUXURIES. 

Perhaps the richest report ever made by him was when, 
as chairman of the committee to audit and control the con- 
tingent expenses of tlie senate, he disclosed the ancient 
secrets and practices of that body. He went mousing back 
through the records and vouchers to the first dissipations or 
luxuries of congress, namely, those of 1777, and, tracing them 
down to 1S74, discovered that modern wastages or extrava- 
gances were far below those of earlier years. He found the 
period of greatest profligacy embraced the twenty years of 
democratic reign previous to the Rebellion. Until the repub- 
licans limited each member to $125 for stationery, postage 



OFFICIAL LUXURIES. 449 

Stamps, etc., were drawn ad lib,, and frequently sold for 
cash or huckstered for other goods. As those who read pay 
the taxes, three paragraphs from Carpenter's report may be 
extracted to show in w^hat directions, in other years, portions 
of those taxes disappeared: 

The attention of the senate was invited, on the 14th of June, 1S57, to the 
unequal ainounts of stationery furnished to senators, and the secretary of 
the senate was directed to prepare a statement of what was supplied during- 
the thirty- fourth congress. This statement, with other information on the 
subject, was laid before the senate on the 9^1 of December, 1S58, and showed 
a great inequality in the amounts of stationery drawn by senators during 
the preceding congress. The five senators who drew the largest amounts 
were: Hon. C. F. James, $368.68; Hon. Lewis Cass, $366.18; Hon. Jesse 
D. Bright, $302.66; Hon. W. H. Seward, $284.78, and Hon. George W. 
Jones, $254.91. And the five senators who drew the smallest amounts 
were: Hon. Jacob Collamer, $62.99; Hon. John B. Thompson, $63.85; 
Hon. John M. Clayton, $64.07; Hon. Henry Wilson, $7359, and Hon. D. 
S. Reid, $83.45. The average amount of stationery furnished to each sen- 
ator during the thirty-fourth congress was $123.82; but the senate refused 
to adopt that or any other sum as a commutation value, and the conse- 
quence was an enlarged gross expenditure. The fancy articles sold at 
stationers' shops were purchased by senators for their use or the use of 
members of their families, and the accounts of those days are both exor- 
bitant and extravagant when compared with those of the present time. 

Large sums were also expended for the funeral expenses of deceased 
senators, and in this there has been a decided reform. In June, 1850, the 
funeral expenses of a deceased senator amounted to $2,760, while those of 
a senator who died in July, 1870, were $940. 

The expenditures for stationery during the year 1860 (the last year of 
democratic sway in the senate) were nearly if not quite three times the 
amount of what is now disbursed for that purpose, although there were but 
sixty-six senators. There was no commutation for stationery, but each 
senator drew what he thought proper, and among the items charged we 
find " two gold pens and holders," " twenty-four scarf-boxes," "one set in- 
struments," " six dozen pearl and silver carved pen-holders," " eight dozen, 
fancy-cut paper-weights," "one telescope," "eight dozen small agate seals," 
" six dozen cut-glass inkstands," " six dozen small size fancy-cut ink- 
stands," " three dozen hexagon cut inkstands," " four dozen bronze paper- 
weights," "fourteen dozen Crooks' four-blade knives, silver-tipped," "eight 
dozen embossed paper-boxes," " eight dozen four-blade buckrknives," " two 
dozen spring-top inkstands," " three dozen Draper's inkstands," " one 
dozen screw-top inkstands," "twelve large glass . inkstands," " two hun- 
29 



450 



LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



dred and forty-one reams of cap-paper," "one hundred and sixty-four reams 
of letter-paper," "two hundred and thirty-five reams of note-paper," and 
•* two million one hundred and forty-four thousand five hundred envelopes." 

The mass of Carpenter's committee work is so great that 
it can not be examined in detail for the purposes of this vol- 
ume; hence a halt may as well be called here. All his col- 
leao-ues have expressed in writing or public speech the great 
services he rendered to them, the senate and the countr)\ 
A dozen words from Thomas F. Bayard in this regard will 
fairly cover them all: " His facile dispatch of business and 
his prompt and correct apprehension of all questions neces- 
sarily made him a valuable colleague." 



LOUISIANA — TUMULT AND BLOODSHED. 45I 

CHAPTER XL. 

LOUISIANA — TUMULT AND BLOODSHED. 

In its salient features, perhaps in all respects, the so-called 
Louisiana case was of co-equal import with the reconstruc- 
tion of the states that rebelled and left the Union. In both, 
the new and unsettled principles to be determined sprung 
from the very life of the republic, and were a part of the 
power and right of self-perpetuation and self-government. 
That Carpenter was right in the reconstruction principles 
enunciated was declared by the highest authority in the 
land; that he was likewise right as to Louisiana is now gen- 
erally conceded, though his party did not vote or side solidly 
with him. Owing, therefore, to its importance, the subject 
is treated in a separate chapter outside of the story of his 
doings in congress, though it might naturally belong in that 
connection. 

At the election of November, 1872, the democratic ticket, 
as the proper officials reported, received sixty-six thousand 
and the republican ticket fifty-nine thousand votes. Two 
canvassing-boards were at once organized, in this manner: 
H. C. Warmoth was governor and bylaw the head of the can- 
vassing-board, which consisted, in activity, of the lieutenant- 
governor, secretary of state, and two persons named Lynch 
and Anderson. Warmoth discovered, at the outset, that the 
board could not be fully controlled by him ; so, by an order 
which was wholly unconstitutional, removed Herron, the 
secretary of state, and appointed in his place one Wharton. 
P. B. S. Pinchback (the lieutenant-governor) and Anderson, 
having been candidates at the election, were declared to be 
disqualified to act as members of the board, and Du Ponte 
and Hatch were chosen to fill the vacancies made by such 
disqualifications. 

Lynch would not act with this board, but acting with 



452 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Herron, who had been illegally displaced, elected Longstrect 
and Hawkins to fill the vacancies made by the disqualifica- 
tion of Pinchback. and Anderson, and then proceeded to 
canvass the returns, or such duplicate and scattering ballots 
as they could secure, for the Warmoth board possessed all 
the regular returns. By the votes which these two boards 
proposed to canvass, one Dibble had been defeated for judge 
by one Elmore by something like nine thousand majority. 
Dibble was then on the bench, and the Warmoth board 
began suit before him against the Lynch board, and secured 
an injunction restraining a canvass of the votes by its mem- 
bers. One day later, the Lynch board secured from the 
same judge an injunction restraining the Warmoth board 
from acting. 

Four days afterward Judge Dibble decided the suits in 
favor of the Lynch board. On the following day, we must 
be astonished to know, Warmoth took from his safe a blank 
election law, passed at the last session of the legislature,' and 
approved it as governor. This law abolished all former re- 
turning-boards, and under the constitution of Louisiana gave 
him power to appoint a new one. This he did without delay, 
creating the De Feriet board. Warmoth laid the returns 
before this board, by whom a canvass was made, and Mc- 
Enerv, the democratic candidate for governor, and certain 
persons named by them as the legislature, were declared 
elected. In the meantime Wm. P. Kellogg, republican, had 
been declared elected governor by the Lynch board, and 
various persons named by them as a legislature were also 
declared elected. 

Kellogg filed a bill in equity with Judge Durell, of the 
United States circuit court, and there obtained an injunction 

1 The constitution of Louisiana was so construed that the governor could 
approve any measure passed by the legislature during a recess of that body, 
or veto it on the first day of the succeeding session. Thus a governor con- 
trolling the legislature could secure the passage of laws, to be used in case 
of an emergency, of almost any conceivable nature, and aj^prove them when- 
ever tliat emergency arose. Warhioth's election law was of this nature. 



ABSOLUTE CHAOS. 453 

restraining the Warmoth board and enjoining McEnery from 
acting as governor. Notwithstanding this order, Warmoth 
posted a bull declaring McEnery elected, and commanding 
obedience to him and his associates as the state government. 
Thereupon Durell issued an order to the United States mar- 
shal of the eastern district of Louisiana to seize and hold the 
state-house, known as Mechanics' Institute, and prevent " all 
unlawful assemblages " therein of persons decla'red to be 
elected by the De Feriet or Warmoth board. Upon this 
order a company of federal soldiers seized and held the state- 
house, President Grant having ordered the troops to respond 
to the call of the marshal. 

Kellogg resigned his seat in the United States senate to as- 
sume the gubernatorial chair. The two pretending legisla- 
tures met during the second week in December — the one in 
response to a proclamation by Kellogg, and the other in ac- 
cordance with a proclamation by McEnery. The former 
elected Mr. Ray and the latter Mr. McMillen to fill the va- 
cancy in the senate of the United States caused by Kellogg's 
resignation. And thus the case of the two contending gov- 
ernments in Louisiana came before the United States senate. 
The Kellogg government, having been set up by the federal 
courts and recognized by President Grant, was then sup- 
ported by federal soldiers. 

ABSOLUTE CHAOS. 

Louisiana, with these two contending governments, one 
supported by the army of the United States, was in a state 
of unqualified chaos. Business was demoralized, the people 
of the entire commonwealth were in rebellion, and civil war 
was threatened. Carpenter gallantly defended President 
Grant from the attacks of the democrats, declaring the Pres- 
ident had no discretion, when telegraphed that the order of 
the federal court was being disobeyed, but to command the 
troops to uphold that tribunal, notwithstanding the fact that 



454 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

its judge (Durell) in setting up the Kellogg government 
had far over-stepped his jurisdiction. The Morton faction, 
comprising a majority of the republican members of the 
senate, insisted that the Kellogg government should be 
sustained and Mr. Ray admitted to the seat in the senate 
vacated by Kellogg. 

The democrats insisted that, the returns having shown 
that McEnery received a majority of the votes cast, he should 
be recognized as governor, and McMillen be admitted to Kel- 
logg's vacant seat. Carpenter, assuming a different position, 
stepped into an unoccupied field between the two poHtical 
parties, and demanded a new election for Louisiana, and 
presented a bill providing for and governing that election, 
which was pronounced as near perfect in its safeguards 
against fraud and corruption as any that human ingenuity 
could invent. His reasons were that Kellogg held his office 
by virtue of votes never cast and that McEnery went in 
through fraud and corruption; meaning, that although the 
returns showed a majority for the latter, it was secured by 
fraud, manipulation of the polling-places, and various forms 
of corruption, and that a fair and free election would undoubt- 
edly have resulted in favor of Kellogg. 

He held that if either government were to be recognized 
it must be that headed by McEnery, for it received a major- 
ity of the votes actually cast. These votes were canvassed 
by a board of undoubted legal power — that of De Feriet, 
appointed by Warmoth under the act approved by him No- 
vember 20, 1872, which abolished both the other boards, — 
and his election had been duly proclaimed by the legal 
governor. He also held that the Kellogg government could 
not, in equity, be recognized, as it did not receive a majority 
of the votes cast; the returns were never in the hands of the 
Lynch board, which declared him elected, and, finally, there 
was no legal Lynch board, it having been abolished by the 
approval of the new election law before mentioned. 



THE WISER REMEDY. 455 

THE WISER REMEDY. 

Having, upon the representations of the court, recognized 
the Kellogg government. President Grant declared he 
should, in the absence of any act of congress, continue to 
uphold it to the end of the term with federal force, if neces- 
sary. Under this unprecedented condition of affairs, Car- 
penter urged, with all his power of logic and earnestness, a 
new election, as the only fair means of settling such a mael- 
strom of contention, fraud, usurpation, corruption and rebell- 
ion. In closing his argument, which embraced every fact, 
decision, act, usurpation, enactment and proceeding in the 
case, he said: 

I am satisfied from the testimony that the McEnerj government, at 
though in fact elected, was nevertheless elected by such gross and all-per- 
vading fraud as ought to vitiate the election. It is in evidence that the 
managers of the election threw every possible difficulty in the way of regis- 
tration, and purposely established the voting places at inaccessible points in 
the republican districts, so that, in some cases, voters had to travel over 
twenty miles to reach the polls, and that this was systematically done 
throughout tha state, for the purpose of preventing, and that it did prevent, 
a fair expression of public sentiment at the election polls. For these rea- 
sons, your committee have not felt themselves justified in recommending 
recognition of the McEnery government, but have recommended that both 
the Kellogg and McEnery governments should be discarded. The Mc- 
Enery government is the creature of fraud, and the Kellogg government 
is the creature of fraud and usurpation. Therefore, to recommend a new 
election by the people, it seems to me, is the most harmless course we can 
pursue — the course least offensive to state pride, and least injurious to state 
rights. 

Mr. President, I have performed my duty to this business, and will have 
no more to say about it. I sat with the committee, surrounded by an as- 
semblage resembling a town-meeting, for four weeks. I labored night and 
day. I have investigated this matter with an eye single to find out the 
truth and to put on record a lawyer-like result. I have done the best I 
could, and I wash my hands of the whole business. If you choose, upon 
any technicality, to stand back and leave that community in its present 
condition, if you please to leave it to be torn up by these contending gov- 
ernments, and to realize all the horror and bloodshed that may follow from 
your silence, the responsibility is upon you. 

There is in that state a large colored population enfranchised by your 



456 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

act, made citizens by your laws, declared by your constitution and statutes 
to be entitled to have a voice in electing a governor. Here is tlie notorious 
fact that they have not had that right; that their will has been overridden, 
iand that the McEnery government, which appears to be elected by the 
returns, is a government in utter defiance of the public sentiment Here 
are the further facts, too notorious and too apparent, that if you withdraw 
your protection, stand back and leave the matter to settle itself, one of two 
things must follow: bloodshed in that state, in which the colored popula- 
tion are to be slaughtered like sheep on the streets; or your President must 
do as he says in his message — he must stand by the government which he 
has recognized, because the federal courts set it up, and by our party. It is, 
perhaps, not entirely senatorial to distinguish between the government and 
the party; but, Mr. President, the fact is that the republican party is an- 
swerable to the people oi this country for the conduct of this business, and 
we are answerable to our constituents, to our consciences, and to our God, 
for our part in it. 

A few lawyers of the senate interposed that congress had 
no power to order and conduct a new election, as Carpenter 
proposed, lie replied that because such a thing never had 
been done was no reason why it could not be accomplished, 
and held that any measure or proceeding to restore Louisi- 
ana to peace, tranquillity and a republican form of government, 
as the constitution requires, was within the clear power, as it 
was the clear duty, of congress. He believed congress was 
compelled to step in and give Louisiana a republican form of 
government, because there was no state government to order 
a new election — no power left within the state to right things 
for herself. 

A VISIT TO LOUISIANA. 

He was in earnest in this all-important matter. He believed 
the great political wound in Louisiana could not be seared 
over by partisan caustic, but must be treated and cured by 
the eternal principles of right and justice. Therefore, in 
May, eight weeks after this discussion, he proceeded to that 
state for the purpose of learning, by personal observation and 
contact with the people, all there was to be known concern- 
ing the rule of anarchy within its borders, and whether he 
was pursuing a satisfactory and correct course in his official 



A VISIT TO LOUISIANA. 457 

attempts to restore peace and order. While there, he ad- 
dressed, somewhat informally, the colored citizens, submitting 
to a long cross-examination by the leading freedmen of the 
state. 

The interview was, so far as he was concerned, full of 
spice and spirit, and subsequently, when published, attracted 
a great deal of attention, by reason of the radical if not start- 
ling theories advanced by him. The colored people were 
dissatisfied with his eflbrts to secure a new election. They 
trembled with terror at the slightest whisper of the word 
election. During the six years previous over five thousand 
of their people had been shot like dogs, and thousands more 
had been scourged with lash and fire, chased by bloodhounds 
into the swamps, or cut off from earning a livelihood by the 
ku klux klans, white leaguers, regulators and other demo- 
cratic political organizations, because they voted the republi- 
can ticket. With these scenes of suffering, horror and blood 
still fresh before their eyes, the colored men pleaded with 
Carpenter in the name of heaven to send them no more elec- 
tions, but to send an abundance of federal troops to uphold 
the Kellogg government, which Judge Durell had pretended 
to establish, and which for that reason President Grant had 
recognized as the lawful government of Louisiana. 

These appeals sorely tried Carpenter. They precipitated a 
struggle between his great heart and his well-settled judg- 
ment. The unspeakable suffering of the freedmen had fully 
captured his sympathies — his heart had gone over to the 
colored men, but his judgment as a lawyer, statesman and 
senator remained wedded to the theory that the difficulty 
could only be justly settled for all time by a new election or- 
dered and conducted by the federal government. 

The colored men, however, could not be brought to his 
way of reasoning. They declared that under the fourteenth 
and fifteenth amendments and the enforcement act, the freed- 
men must be protected in their rights, and that troops suffi- 
cient for that purpose should be sent to Louisiana. He 



458 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

explained that these additions to the constitution and the en- 
actments in pursuance thereof simply gave the black man all 
the rights and privileges possessed by the white man, and 
provided civil remedies and penalties for any deprivation of 
them. Those laws, he said, did not make the black man the 
particular ward of the government, did not place him in a 
favored position, where he was entitled to first consideration, 
did not give him more rights, claims or privileges than the 
white man, but simply made whites and blacks equal before 
all the laws and all the courts, equal to defend themselves 
against the assaults of each other. 

He declared the black men must come out from under the 
destroying reign of terror that was holding them down, 
throw off the whelming awe of the white man that rested 
like an incubus on all their eflbrts and desires to advance, and, 
under the great law of self-defense, that is above all consti- 
tutions and decrees, meet the white man sword for sword and 
blood for blood. 

THE MOSAIC LAW. 

This may fall as a startling doctrine upon those who never 
saw the black man's humble home in ashes, his mule shot or 
maimed and his little crop laid waste, or never passed through 
the southern glades at election time to find here and there, 
riddled with bullets, the corpses of freedmen who would not 
vote as the white man had ordered. In this connection noth- 
ing less can be done than to append a portion of the cross- 
examination of Carpenter heretofore mentioned, according to 
the report of a stenographer present, as follows: 

Mr. Ingraliam — There have been over five thousand men murdered in 
this state since 1S65, for no other cause on God's green earth but their 
attachment to tlie republican party. Thev have been hunted tlirough field 
and flood and sliot down for no other reason. 

Mr. Carpenter — That is a thing which no government can entirely pre- 
vent. A government can pass laws and declare it shall not be done, 
and punish the men who do it when they are convicted, but self-protection 
is an individual right. If a man took after me because I was a republican 
I should carry a revolver, and the first man that took after me should get 



ADDRESSING THE DISCORDANT ELEMENTS. 459 

the first bullet. The government could not protect me. I shoulddraw 
a revolver upon him. Why should not jou.'' 

Mr. Tucker — If we did it would be called "a war of races." 

Mr. Carpenter — I am inciting no war of races. Whether the man who 
came after me was a white man or a colored man I should shoot him, and I 
advise you to do the same. 

In the course of further discussion, Mr. Carpenter again urging a new 
election as the best thing for the republican party and for the state at large, Mr. 
Ingraham replied that a new election would bring into play the new arm of 
the south. Since the surrender at Appomattox a new arm had sprung up. 
The sons of the men who had died in the confederate cause were to-day 
leagued together all through the south, and especially in Louisiana, to ac- 
complish at the ballot-boxes what their fathers and representatives failed to 
accomplish in the battle-field, and that was to overawe and crush the 
Negroes throughout the southern states. 

Mr. Carpenter — Suppose the colored men in these states should band 
together to put down the white men ? 

Mr. Ingraham — We are not going to do that. 

Mr. Carpenter — Suppose you should.? Suppose twenty thousand col- 
ored men in this state should meet in convention and pass a resolution 
that no white man should hold an office or vote. What would the white 
men do.'' What you have to do is to knock your people out of this awe of 
the white man. 

Mr. Ingraham — How .-' 

Mr. Carpenter — Stand right up to him, and, if he insults you, knock him 
down. 

Mr. Ingraham — But knocks of that kind would prejudice the whole 
people against us. 

Mr. Carpenter — Don't you think the whole power of the government 
is enough to sustain you.-* We can not protect your individual firesides. 
If a black man came to murder your babes you would kill him, would you 
not.? If a white man comes for the same purpose, kill him. 

Mr. Ingraham — We admit the truth of all this, and it ought to be done, 
but in our present relations, when we have the law and the courts for pro- 
tection, we do not rely upon ourselves. 

Mr. Carpenter — That is just the idea I am trying to get at. If you in- 
sult a white man, he kills you. If a white man insults you, you run to the 
courts; don't you do that, j //si £-0 yor him. 

ADDRESSING THE DISCORDANT ELEMENTS. 

A few days after the talk with the colored people, in 
which he signally failed to destroy their fear of the bloody 
consequences of another election, Carpenter was invited by 



460 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

a large number of the leading white citizens of New Or- 
leans, irrespective of party, to deliver an address in Exposi- 
tion Hall on the unfortunate condition of Louisiana affairs. 
He made a prompt favorable reply, and although the night 
chosen for it, May 20, 1873, ^^^ stormy, he was greeted by 
over three thousand of the foremost citizens of the Crescent 
City. He spoke from eight o'clock until after eleven in the 
evening and had the closest attention. He talked with great 
license, literally handling everything and everybody in Loui- 
siana witliout gloves. The opening, however, was rich and 
beautiful, like the gorgeous section in which he was a vis- 
itor — the very incense of oratory — and won his audience 
so completely as to block any effectual rebellion against the 
sledge-hammer blows he subsequently dealt. 

The address contained the main points brought out in his 
speech in the senate, with popular illustrations and con- 
clusions. He was more brief in setting forth the riglitful 
power of the government to act in the premises, its duty to 
take cognizance of the failure of any state to maintain a re- 
publican form of government as required by the constitution, 
and the conclusion that federal interference could be no vio- 
lation or infringement of state rights. He reiterated that 
although McEnery was technically elected, it was by means 
of the grossest frauds, and that Kellogg secured his seat by 
frauds of another kind and usurpation. 

The foundation question to be reached and determined, he 
said, was the true reason for this condition of things. He 
believed it was because slavery was not dead, saying he 
found, to his sorrow, that the assertion and supremacy of the 
white race over the black, which constituted slavery, had 
not disappeared ; that the latter plainly succumbed to that 
"servility of temper and dread of the white man's wrath 
which slavery had imposed," and that they " did not seem to 
understand they are the white man's equal in aii3'thing, and 
yet, to-day, they have all the rights and all the protection 
which I have in Wisconsin, and all they ever can have under 



ADDRESSING THE DISCORDANT ELEMENTS. 461 

free institutions." He then expounded the doctrine of self- 
defense, reiterating and amplifying what he had said to the 
colored men under this head — in effect, that when the freed- 
men were attacked they should shoot and kiU in self-defense, 
if nothing less would suffice: 

There is no war of races, of which I hear so much, in this suggestion. It 
is the innocent man defending himself against a wrong-doer. * * * 
And let me say to you, frankly, this evening, gentlemen, that the quicker 
this great fact is taken into consideration, fully understood and universally 
acted upon, the sooner will you relieve yourselves of the condition of 
things now existing in this city. Talk to me about a war of races in the 
south by the aggressions of the colored man ! You might have convinced 
me in Wisconsin of that, but you never can after what I have seen of the 
colored men themselves in Louisiana. I will believe that such a danger is 
to be apprehended when, and not until, you have satisfied me that the 
lambs on the farms in Wisconsin have banded together to devour the 
wolves in the forest. 

The fearless manner in which Carpenter enunciated this 
produced a decided sensation, which he did not permit to sub- 
side before arraigning, in merciless terms, the whites for the 
death, in Grant parish, of "that mountain of colored men, 
slaughtered while they were escaping from a burning court- 
house." He indicted them for ostracizing northern men 
who removed to the south for the purpose of engaging 
in business; for refusing to sell any portion of the great 
plantations that were going to waste to the colored men; 
for refusing their former slaves opportunities of earning 
a livelihood, thus compelling them to starve or steal; for 
training their young men to " drink whisky and talk politics 
by day and butcher Negroes as a pastime by night ; " for 
inciting tumult and revolution on the slightest pretext, and 
for their general bad treatment of the black men since the 
advent of the privileges and rights of citizenship. He 
counseled submission to the Kellogg government until some 
action settling the imbroglio could be taken; for, being a 
de facto government, its acts were valid. He promised, 
when the case should be presented at the next session of 



462 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

congress, to do what he could to secure a new election, 
unless it should be shown that Kellogg, in spite of all frauds, 
was really elected. 

In closing his speech Carpenter offered a generous tribute 
to New Orleans and pictured her future in glorious colors. 
He assuned the garb of a prophet, and predicted the day 
was cominfj when Cuba and the West India islands and 
Mexico would belong to the United States, and that then 
New Orleans would be the gate-way commanding the com- 
merce across the gulf to those countries. His prophecy was 
closed in these words: 

Mexico and Cuba, San Domingo and other islands of the sea are held 
bv men who are only occupying until we come. Yet we can not go until 
you put your house in order and give us the word that you are ready for 
an advance. The last hope of man in the experiment of self-government 
is with us; we are even to-day, with all the difficulties we have to contend 
agamst, holding the lamp of liberty a little higher and shedding its light a 
little clearer on the face of the world than any other nation. Yet we are 
in our infancy, not only in years, but in opportunities and capacities. 

BACK IN THE SENATE. 

Returning from New Orleans to the floor of the senate, 
we find Carpenter, on January 30, 1874, redeeming the 
promise made in Exposition Hall to do what he could for 
Louisiana by opposing Morton's resolution to seat P. B. S. 
Pinchback. as a senator from that state. Pinchback had 
been elected by the so-called Kellogg legislature, and Car- 
penter objected to seating him, on the ground that at the time 
of his election there was no legal legislature in that stale. 
He grouped in their strongest positions and illuminated with 
the light of his perfect knowledge of the Louisiana case and 
of the law, all the orders, decisions, rulings, proclamations, 
enactments and proceedings had in and in connection with 
the elections in that unfortunate state, and then drew the 
conclusions of an impartial and upright judge who had laid 
aside all partisan feeling and all desire except to see exact 
justice prevail. The list of authorities and decisions he pre- 



BACK IN THE SENATE. 463 

sented was so overwhelmingly in favor of the position that 
there was no legal state government in Louisiana, that no 
one pretended to contend against them. 

In this long speech, fairly ponderous with the weight of 
well-settled principles and eminent decisions. Carpenter was 
unusually warm and earnest. It was noticeable to all that 
he believed he was engaged upon a question of vital im- 
portance to the republic, and that his words came from the 
heart and his conclusions from the precious mine of honest 
conviction. On the following day he prepared and intro- 
duced another bill providing for a new election in Louisiana. 
Before speaking to that, however, he addressed the senate 
twice on the resolution to admit Pinchback, and arrived at 
his great speech in support of the bill on March 4th. The 
event had been well advertised, and the senate chamber was 
filled to its utmost capacity with a brilliant and distinguished 
audience. No better superficial description of the effort can 
be given than this, by a noted author, journalist and pub- 
licist, of New York: 

For three hours, through one of the best legal arguments heard in the 
senate for a long time past, the crowded galleries listened to him eagerly, 
and leaned forward with deep interest to catch every word that he uttered. 
He was the center of attraction and all eyes were steadily turned upon him. 
Most of the senators were in their seats, and the custom of reading news- 
papers was dispensed with, while they were intently absorbed in the well- 
arranged points and effective treatment of them which characterized Senator 
Carpenter's forensic effort throughout. At times, when he indulged in some 
highly impassioned bursts of oratory delivered impromptu beyond the outline 
of his notes, he presented in his naturally graceful manner a fine embodi- 
ment of the bold and fearless American lawyer. Then, again, there were 
moments when the silence inspired by a greediness to catch his every word, 
was painfully impressive, and the insinuating electricity of his voice was 
almost oppressive. One of the finest lawyers and finest minds in the senate 
said that Senator Carpenter's argument was unanswerable. The awe in- 
spired by his final appeal for action, and his protrayal of what might occur 
in the future if congress did not interfere, gave to his peroration the master 
touches of art which invisibly pervade the higher productions of the hm- 
ner's skill. The full responsibility of the senate was lelt when, near his 
close, with ominous significance, he asked, bursting into terrible earnestness, 



464 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

" Is it wisdom to adjourn this question into the presidential campaign of 
1876? " adding his hope that the government would stand up and do its full 
duty. The full measure of the situation was then reached, and Senator Car- 
penter's effort was crowned with the twofold bays of a statesman and a 
lawyer. 

It should be stated that although President Grant had 
recognized the Kellogg government and was upholding it by 
federal bayonets, his own wishes were represented by Car- 
penter's plan for a new election. A majority of his cabinet, 
however, were against him. 

Carpenter's speech was a powerful exposition of the deep 
and damnable iniquities of Louisiana politics — one long and 
solid array of facts and authorities, butchery and blood. Dur- 
ing its delivery he was badgered and cross-examined by all 
his opponents, including Frelinghuysen, West, Logan and 
Conkling, and answered all of them with such clearness, 
promptitude and completeness as to show his perfect mastery 
of every detail of the complicated subject, and to turn all the 
interruptions and would-be annoyances to the advantage of 
his side of the case. 

A few da3^s later Carpenter twice addressed the senate in 
favor of his bill, in a more earnest and prophetic manner, if 
possible, than before. He referred to the promise he made 
in New Orleans, that, if the people would cease all tumult 
and violence, and submit to the Kellogg government until 
the next session of congress, he would do what he could to 
secure a new election, declaring the Louisianians had kept 
their part of the contract perfectly, and he should keep his, 
though the republican senate, for mere partisan purposes, 
might vote to perpetuate a fraud and usurpation. He closed 
this second conjuration thus: 

The Hayes-Tilden Dead-Lock Predicted. 

For two years yet, unless congress shall interfere, that usurping govern- 
ment will hold that state. This question will be mingled with the difficult 
questions which may be involved in the next canvass of votes for President 
and Vice-President. I will not take more time, and do not care to say 
another word upon the merits of the subject; but it does seem to me that it 



BACK IN THE SENATE. 465 

is little short of madness on the part of congress to postpone this question 
and mix it up with the difficulties which may arise on the count of the 
votes for President. We can settle it now to the satisfaction of all man- 
kind, settle it honestly; have an election there that every man will know 
and feel is an honest election, and then the matter will be removed from 
the next presidential contest. I do not speak of the political contest, but I 
speak of the canvass of the votes in the hall of representatives. The vote 
of Louisiana at the last election was thrown out because this very election 
from which Mr. Kellogg claims to have derived his rights was void. The 
casting away of that vote did not change the result, and therefore no one 
cared about it ; but, if the result had depended upon counting or not count- 
ing the vote of Louisiana, we should have had trouble such as no man can 
estimate. And it is now proposed to let things drift, and to adjourn the 
question which we might settle now, when we are under no temptation to 
do anything wrong; to adjourn it all, and see what will turn up in the next 
count of votes for President. 

Carpenter's bill was not passed, though at the previous 
session it was defeated by only one vote. It was then killed 
by the democrats, who disrelished the recitation of outrages 
and horrors in the preamble. 

The prophecy contained in the passage here quoted came 
to pass literally and with dangerous effect at the succeeding 
presidential election, and when he entered the supreme court 
room as counsel for Tilden, before the great electoral com- 
mission, made necessary by the very trouble in Louisiana 
he predicted and which his bill proposed to correct, the 
martyr, James A. Garfield, brought forth from his memo- 
randum book the extract just quoted, remarking, with a 
tincture of remorse, that no prediction was ever more com- 
pletely fulfilled, or human prescience ever more conspicu- 
ously demonstrated. 

Carpenter's committee report on Louisiana affairs is one 
of the remarkable documents of the age. It does not in any 
respect fall below Burke's impassioned portrayal of the East 
Indian government's excesses and debauchery under the 
extraordinary vice-royalty of Warren Hastings, and time 
has fully confirmed the wisdom of his every act and doctrine. 
30 



466 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

FACING THE STORM— " BACK PAY.' 
Probably no act of Carpenter's public life was performed 
with a clearer conscience than that of supporting the so-called 
"back-pay" bill of March 3, 1873, yet it at once enveloped 
him in a blinding storm of denunciation and obloquy. Always 
theretofore, when the masses had called upon him, Carpenter 
had given a valid, if not a satisfactory, reason for his acts; 
therefore, before entering final judgment, they desired to hear 
what he had to say. He was invited to speak upon the " back- 
pay steal," as it was delicately termed, at several places, but 
the strongest request coming from Rock county, he decided 
to appear at Janesville on June 26, 1873. Portions of his 
address must be incorporated in order to show an account 
of certain of his public doings in his own words: 

Before coming to the precise point I intend to discuss, let me refer to the 
abnormal condition of things existing in Washington and throughout the 
country last winter, wliich. in my belief, has caused the uproar which fol- 
lowed what is so courteously styled " the back-pay steal." I refer to the 
Credit Mobilier investigation. 

If any one had gone, in iS6i, to meet our troops as they were flying in 
rout and confusion from Bull Run, and had told them that they were simply 
in a panic; that the rebels were really whipped; that no enemy was pursu- 
ing them; that all they had to do was to stop running themselves to death 
and sit down on the grass and cook their supper, it is likely that he would 
have been run over and trodden under foot by our retreating soldiery. Yet 
every one now knows that such was the case, and that our army was fleeing in 
hot haste from adversaries which existed only in their own excited imagina- 
tions. A very sagacious friend of mine, an editor, has told me that the same 
fate will overtake me if I attempt, just now, to stem the current. He says 
the newspapers have taken their position, and if I should succeed in showing 
that they are wrong, tliey would be a hundred times more angry than they 
now are, and that any attempt to justify what the press has so unanimously 
condemned will only have the effect to call forth increased denuncia- 
tion. This may all be so, but I do not believe it. There is a time for all 
things; a time to rant and a time to reason. Of ranting we have had more 
than enough; some one must incur the danger of attempting to reason, and 
I may as well suflfer as another. 



FACING THE STORM — "BACK PAY." \ 467 

Panic results from the infirmities of human nature. It is the sudden re- 
bellion of fear against the authority of reason. In a panic men will slay 
their best friends, destroy themselves, and from the best of motives commit 
the most shocking crimes. In a panic Athens condemned Socrates to death 
by hemlock, and Jerusalem led the Savior of the world to the agonies of 
crucifixion. Panics are not confined to military operations; civil commu- 
nities often have their Bull Runs. 

One notable illustration was the panic which seized the people of Lon- 
don, and of all England, in regard to the supposed Popish plot. Taking 
advantage of the excitement, an infamous wretch by the name of Titus 
Oates, thinking he could see meat and drink, coats and pantaloons in it, of 
which he was very short, emerged from obscurity and pretended to make 
revelations against innocent men, upon which they were indicted, tried, 
convicted, drawn and quartered. Oates was lionized, received public ova- 
tions, and was regarded as a great benefactor and patriot. But after the 
excitejment began to cool, and men began to reason, the plot was found out 
to be a wicked invention; Oates was ascertained to be an impostor, and was 
convicted of perjury and whipped at the cart's tail through the streets of 
London by a judgment of the same court which, upon his perjured testi- 
mony, had condemned scores of innocent men to the gallows and the 
grave. 

The panic of last winter was less tragic, but not less remarkable. The 
devil is styled the Prince of the Air; he has been a long while observing 
things; has seen generations come and go, empires rise and fall, and must 
understand human nature pretty well. If there be any truth in the conceit 
of Coleridge, that the devil sometimes comes down, 

"To visit his snug little farm, the earth, 
And see how his stock goes on," 

I know of nothing more likely to excite his mirth than the Credit Mobilier 
investigation. And the gravity of even his Satanic Majesty must have been 
overcome completely when the drama had become so cast, and the charac- 
ters so completely jumbled and transposed, that Fernando Wood — affect- 
ing a virtue if he had it not — stood forth as the impeacher of Schuyler 
Colfax, a man the latchet of whose shoes, upon any general average of 
public virtues, Fernando Wood is not worthy, stooping down, to unloose. 

He then showed that the government had not been and 
could not be defrauded by the Credit Mobilier, as it was 
simply the corporation which contracted to build the Pacific 
road for the Pacific Railroad Company, and thus illustrated 
the matter: 

Suppose you contract with a builder to build or cause to be built a cer- 
tain house on a certain lot, according to stipulated specifications, within 



If 



468 LIFE OF CARPENTER 

six months, for which you agree to give him forty acres of land and loan 
him $10,000 on his note for ten years. Then suppose your contractor sub- 
lets the contract, and the sub-contractor builds the house to your eniire 
satisfaction ; you accept it, deed the forty acres, and loan to your contractor 
the $10,000 on his note for ten years. Then suppose it should come to 
vour knowledge that your contractor had been cheated by his sub-con- 
tractor. Would you consider that that was any business of yours.'' Would 
any lawyer tell you that you could bring a suit to redress the wrong which 
your contractor had suffered at the hands of his contractor, but which had 
in no way affected you.' 

Carpenter now came to the back-pay question: 

I stand here to-night advocating the rights of the poor against the ambi- 
tion of the rich; I am here to-night to maintain that the son of a poor 
farmer or mechanic, if he have the necessary qualifications, has as much 
right to sit in the senate of the United States as the son or grandson of 
John Jacob Astor. This right is secured to the sons of the poor by the 
compensation clause of the constitution. And I am here to-night in the 
interest of the poor, and in my own interest as a poor man, to denounce 
any attempt to overthrow, or any cowardice which undermines, the repub- 
lican dogma of our government — that every public servant shall receive 
the compensation for his services which is fixed by the law of the land. 

In America the theory is that the rich and the poor should be on a level 
in making as well as administering the laws, and in every respect and par- 
ticular, so far as the government is concerned. And the fathers, in framing 
the constitution, took good care to secure this end by providing as follows: 
"The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their 
services,jto be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United 
States." Mark the significant and emphatic language of the constitution. 
It is not provided that the congress shall have power to fix the rate of 
compensation, nor that congress may by law detei"mine what compensation 
the senators and members shall be entitled to receive, but the language is : 
"The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation tor their 
services, to be ascertained by law, and paid outof the treasury of the United 
States." Suppose a conspiracy be entered into to-morrow among the 
millionaires of the senate — William Sprague, of Rhode Island; Zach. 
Chandler and Thos. W. Ferry, of Michigan; Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, 
of New Jersey; Wm. T. Hamilton, of Maryland; John P. Jones, of Ne- 
vada, and others — not to receive any compensation for their services and 
not to associate with or recognize as gentlemen those who should receive 
any such compensation. Can there be a doubt that such an aristocratic 
combination to change the character of the senate, and force poor men out 
of its seats, would be a direct and open violation of the constitution, which 
expressly provides that senators " shall receive " the compensation which is 



FACING THE STORM — "BACK PAY." 469 

fixed by law? Custom is as strong as law, and social influence may defy 
the law. The tendency, of late, has been to fill the senate with men of 
wealth. And, when their numbers shall be increased, a combination be- 
tween them, like that supposed, might produce a practical revolution of the 
government, and establish a condition of official life which would make it 
so uncomfortable for poor men to hold seats in the senate that they would 
decline to do so, and give the senate over to the millionaires of the country. 

In my opinion there is but one question in all this business, and that is 
whether $7,500 be more than a just compensation for the services of a sen- 
ator or representative in congiess. I shall, therefore, first consider this 
question. It is said that $7,500 is a large sum of money, and that there are 
a great many laboring men who do not see one-half that sum in the whole 
course of a year. All this is true, but is not quite conclusive of the sub- 
ject before us. When you are sick and desire a physician; when you are 
involved in litigation which touches your fortune or your liberty, you do 
not advertise for the physician or lawyer who will serve you at the lowest 
compensation. You select the physician or the lawyer whose services you 
prefer, and expect to pay him what his services are worth. So, in selecting 
a senator or member of congress, you fix upon the man you desire to fill 
that place, and you expect to pay him a reasonable compensation for his 
services. If you desire to pay only such compensation as will secure the 
services of a man without regard to his qualifications for the place, $5,000, 
even $2,000, is thrown away on a congressman. Three months' advertising 
along the line of a railroad will secure men enough to occupy the seats of 
both houses of congress at three dollars per day. Such an offer made to 
the laborers on a railroad would induce them to "cut dirt " for Washington 
faster than they ever cut dirt out of a railroad bank. When you employ 
a lawyer or a doctor, a bank cashier, the president of an insurance com- 
pany, or any other person for a particular purpose, you do not inquire what 
is the smallest sum for which you can employ a man, but what is a reason- 
able compensation for the services of such a man as you want in the partic- 
ular place. And this is to be determined by ascertaining what the same 
man could earn if employed by others in the same branch of business. 

In 17S9 congress fixed the salary of the President at $25 000 per annum. 
Probably there was no man in the United States, at that time, who had an 
income exceeding that sum. Things have greatly changed since then, and 
men can now be found in almost every county whose income exceeds that 
sum. The most able and sagacious of our business men — the men who 
conduct the commerce of the country and its largest business operations — 
would regard it as a very poor year which did not yield more than $25,000 
profit. The expenses of living, too, have more than doubled since that 
time. I am aware that it is always replied to this statement, that members 
of congress ought to live very economically, that they ought to imitate the 
puritan simplicity of our fathers, and live as cheaply as they did. But how 



47© LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

many of you practice this wisdom? How many of you live as your fathers 
lived? Before I was fourteen years of age, I never saw a carpet, a sofa, or a 
piano. Now, how few of the well-to-do farmers' houses in this county lack 
these luxuries? This generation spends more for children's toys than our 
fathers spent in educating us. And a man who should go to Washington 
and live as some editors demand, would simply be the laughing-stock of 
the nation. If you desire your representatives to equal the representatives 
of other states in influence and power at Washington, then they must live 
with respect to the habits and customs which are practiced and observed 
by the representatives of other states; and not to pay a compensation which 
will enable your representative to live like a gentleman, is, if he be a gen- 
tleman, to exclude him from public service, provided he be also a poor 
man A rich man, as I have said before, may be willing to serve without 
anv compensation; but this would give the government into the hands of 
the rich.l And it is for the people to determine whether, in these days of 
consolidated corporations and combining capital, they desire to surrender 
all voice in making and executing the laws; if so, rich men undoubtedly 
can be found who will serve in congress without regard to compensation. 
Then we shall realize the old theory of the rich taking care of the poor — 
such care as the wolf takes of the lamb. 

Twelve or fifteen years ago. Judge T. O. Howe and Colonel James H. 
Howe were both practicing law in Green Bay. They were both able and 
upright men — possessing the respect and confidence of the community in 
Svhich they resided. Judge Howe went into the service of the government 
as a senator at $3,000 per year; Colonel Howe went into the service of a 
railroad company at $4,000 per year. Judge Howe's salary has been in- 
creased from time to time, until he now receives $7,500. Colonel Howe's 
salary has been increased from time to time, until he now receives $12,000. 
I would certainly not say anything against Colonel Howe. He is my 
friend, and a gentleman whom I greatly respect, and whose services to the 
corporation which employs him are undoubtedly worth all it pays him ; 
but it is no wrong to Colonel Howe to say that Judge Howe is his equal in 
every respect and particular; that he is as able and as honest, and possesses 
in as great a degree the confidence of all wlio know him. Ten thousand 
dollars a year is not an unusual sum to be paid to the president or cashier 
of our largest banks and railroad companies ; and yet a senator is called 
upon to perform three times the labor, and determine matters involving 
fiftv times the importance, at a compensation of $7,500. 

I have also iieard it said that there were members of congress who could 
not earn the same amount of money in any other employment. Conceding 
this, whose fault is it? If the people of a state choose to send a man tocon- 

IThe United States senate is now practically in the hands of the rich. 
However, this is objectionable only as it establishes a state of afiairs which 
m ikes it impossible for a poor man to become a senator. 



FACING THE STORM — "BACK PAY." 471 

gress whose best services are worthless to himself and everybody else, that 
is their fault. The question is, what is a fair compensation for the services^ 
of a man who is fit to be a member of congress? Does anybody doubt that 
Alexander Mitchell, O. H. Waldo, William P. Lynde, Governor C. C. 
Washburn or any other man in our state who would be likely to be elected 
to congress, by application to business could make $7,500 in a year? Or 
that their best services in regard to matters which involve millions of dol- 
lars would be fairly worth that sum per year? 

There is an impression that members of congress are making large sums 
of money. As this is a strictly confidential occasion, and I am liere in the 
capaciLy of a servant to answer to my masters, let me show you how fast I 
am getting rich by a seat in the senate. Several years ago I rented the 
house I now live in for $1,000 a year. It is an unpretending but comfort- 
able home. My office rent in Milwaukee is $250 a year. I am compelled to 
keep my house and office in Milwaukee or the newspapers would at once say 
that I had moved out of the state and gone to Washington to reside. All 
I have in this world is invested in books. I have five thousand volumes 
of law books and about six thousand volumes of political and literarj 
works. On these books I pay an annual insurance premium of about 
$1,000, and as I never expect to have anything to leave for my family, I 
keep my life insured for their benefit to the amount of $50,000, on which I 
pay an annual premium of $1,400. I can not rent a decent house furnished 
in Washington short of $2,000, and I am compelled to keep an office there, 
where my constituents can find me, and where I can transact business with 
them away from the sessions of the senate. For this office, two small 
rooms, I pay a rental of $900. These items give $6,550 ot indispensable 
expense. There is not a meal ol victuals in that sum, no clothing for my 
family, not a shirt for myself, no school-books for my babies, no carriage 
hire, no doctor's bills, no contribution for the preaching of the gospel, no 
charities to the poor, no contribution to pay the expense of Wisconsin office- 
seekei-s who have failed in their application and have to be sent home at the 
expense of the delegation. 

A year ago last winter I went to Washington, about the 15th of Novem- 
ber, and remained there for over seven months, laboring incessantly night 
and day, Sundays and Mondays. The same amount of labor, care and re- 
sponsibility bestowed upon professional business in my office at Milwaukee 
would pay $20,000; I received $7,500 for it. But you may ask how it is, if 
I am poor and my necessary expenses exceed my salary, I am able to stay 
in congress at all; and I propose to tell you, because I am making a full 
confession. A public servant is not permitted to have any privacy; his 
meats and drinks, his clothing, the shape of his shirt-collar, the style of his 
coat, all are paraded before the public in correspondence and ridiculed in 
cartoons. In just three causes in the supreme court of the United States 
last year, which I prepared for argument during the summer, at home, I re 



472 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

ceived $10,500, in cash. My clients were satisfied with my services and my 
charges. They neither called me a thief nor abused me in the press. This 
enabled me to square my bank account for the year, face bakers and butch- 
ers, doctors and dentists, school- masters and music teachers, priests and 
printers, tailors and shoe- makers. 

He next discussed the retroactive or back-pay feature of 
the bill increasing salaries, and showed that it was common 
to nearly all of the several similar bills congress had en- 
acted. Also that many of the great men who voted for and 
accepted back pay in 1856 and in 1866, either voted against 
the law of 1873, or, having received the increase, turned and 
fled before the howl of the press and covered it into the 
federal treasury. He then closed: 

Why is it that men who voted for and received back pay in 1856 and in 
1866 now refuse to do the same thing.' I answer that the Credit Mobilier 
investigalion of last winter so diseased the public mind, and produced such 
a morbid public morality, that things which are perfectly right are regarded 
as wrong; and these men lack the nerve to face a storm even in defense of 
a principle indorsed by Henry Wilson and General Farnsworth and others 
who voted for back pay in former years, and received it from the treasury, 
and who are now claiming popular approbation for not doing precisely 
what they had done before. If it is a larceny, or a lesser wrong, to receive 
back pay for services in the forty-second congress, which these men admit 
by refusing it, then it was larceny or a lesser wrong for the same men to 
receive back pay in 1866. 

Washington left the impress of his character upon his own and succeed- 
ing generations. Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton and others gave an impulse 
to public thought, and fixed a standard of public virtue under which we 
have grown to be a great and happy people. But it was left for Oakes 
Ames to lift the standard of public virtue clear out of mortal reach and 
out of human sight. Things which, viewed in the light of our Savior's 
teachings, and estimated by the standard of Christian morality, are as 
'harmless as the cooings of a dove, are larcenies, mortal sins, in the light 
of 1873 and estimated by the standard of alarm and fright created by 
Oakes Ames and the Credit Mobilier investigation. Earthquakes some- 
times come and storms sometimes rage; but the earth will not always 
rock, nor the rains always fall, and we may hope that the present sore, 
fidgety, sickly morality will sometime give place to the manly and healthy 
virtue taught by the Master of Nazareth. 

The day on which this speech was delivered was ex- 
tremely sultry and enervating; nevertheless the hall in which 



i 



FACING THE STORM "BACK PAY. 473 

he spoke was crowded to its utmost capacity. He made his 
appearance dressed in spotless white coat and pantaloons, 
low shoes and white stockings and white cravat, but without 
a waistcoat — clad in perfect accordance with the demands 
of comfort. He did not seem to be more clean, cool and 
fresh, or more strong and confident, than he was picturesque 
and attractive. Every statement, proposition, argument and 
conclusion was closely followed and thoroughly digested by 
the large audience, and when he had done there was hardly 
a person present who did not agree with him as to prin- 
ciples and facts, and few who did not rejoice that he at least 
had received the benefit of the increase in salary. 

This eflbrt went far to correct the distorted ideas instilled 
into the public mind by the newspapers, and fully estab- 
lished Carpenter's honesty of purpose in supporting the 
measure and his moral bravery in defending it, while others 
were increasing the apparent magnitude of their self-con- 
fessed wickedness and self-conscious guilt by fleeing before 
the storm of public indignation. 



474 I'lFE OF CARPENTER. 

CHAPTER XLII. 

BAFFLED CONSPIRATORS. 

For a j'ear or two prior to 1876 the public atmosphere 
was contaminated by the scandals and corruptions of what 
was generally known as th^ " whisky-ring." The popular 
mind seemed to be debauched by its gigantic excesses and 
the leading men of the nation to be suflering from the poison- 
ous malaria it distilled. Unfortunately, Carpenter's second 
senatorial campaign came on during this epoch. Although 
defeated, the odor of that colossal organization was so 
nauseous to the community that his enemies could do no 
better than charge that he had some connection with or 
profit by it. The announcement was, therefore, made that 
the money of the " whisk3'-crooks " was used in his behalf 
during the campaign, and that, in return, he promised 
immunity to such as already had been arrested and were 
awaiting trial. 

The facts are, in brief, these : The tax on whisky was two 
dollars, the cost of production about twenty-five cents per 
gallon. The temptation to evade the tax was too much for 
strong lovers of money to withstand. This evasion was 
possible only through the connivance of corrupt revenue 
officials — such as gangers, store-keepers, inspectors, etc. 
These men would not permit the distillers to " run crooked," 
and thereby reap enormous harvests, without some tangible 
recompense for themselves. The distillers, therefore, paid 
such as came in direct contact with them sums varying from 
$100 to $250 per month per distillery. In a moral point of 
view, the corruption was not so much in the distiller as in 
those revenue agents who, sworn to protect the govern- 
ment, were, amidst a flood of perjury and malfeasance, the 
abettors of a vast system of frauds upon it. 

Of these facts the departments at Washington had no 



BAFFLED CONSPIRATORS. 475 

knowledge, nor, for some time, had the general public. So 
far as Wisconsin is concerned, the chairman of the republican 
state central committee, E. W. Keyes, discovered during the 
campaign of 1873 that the " whisky-ring," under the name 
and style of the Personal Liberty League, was contributing 
liberal sums of money for the election of Taylor, the demo- 
cratic candidate for governor. On following up the matter 
he became convinced that crooked distilling to an unlimited 
extent must be going on, and wrote the treasury department 
to that effect. In the winter of 1873-4 ^^ personally com- 
municated his belief in this respect to officials at Washington, 
and on May 29, 1874, in his capacity as chairman, filed spe- 
cific charges with Commissioner Douglass, inculpating cer- 
tain revenue officials and distilling firms. These officials, 
upon Carpenter's recommendation, were removed, and subse- 
quendy the illicit distillers were arrested. 

These apparently extraneous facts are mentioned for the 
purpose of showing that, instead of being in league with the 
"whisky-ring," Carpenter's friends and political managers 
were directing the attention of the federal authorities to its 
corruptions and frauds. 

While Carpenter's campaign was progressing, in the win- 
ter of 1874-5, a certain friendly revenue official collected a 
small sum of money for hotel and other necessary expenses 
at Madison. Neither Carpenter nor his friends knew whence 
the money came, but afterward the charge was made that it 
was contributed by "whisky-crooks." A few weeks later 
the entire nest of crooked distillers and dishonest officials was 
arrested. 

Tiie house of representatives was then controlled by the 
democrats. Hoping to destroy certain leading republicans 
and smirch the party generally, an investigation was ordered. 
On June 3, 1876, George W. Gate, democratic congressman 
from Wisconsin, moved that the special committee, sitting in 
recess to investigate the whisk}^ frauds at St. Louis, " be di- 
rected to investigate the question of frauds on the revenue 



476 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and whether any officers of the 
United States were concerned therein, to include the transac- 
tions and contributions of the ' whisky-ring,' in the year 1873, 
in influencing elections." 

The investigation proceeded, the dishonest officials and 
crooked distillers being called to Washington for the purpose 
of implicating Carpenter, E. W. Keyes (postmaster at Mad- 
ison) and Henry C. Payne (postmaster at Milwaukee). On 
the second day of the investigation Mr. Caswell asked Leo- 
pold Wirth, a crooked distiller, whether the " whisky-ring " 
contributed heavily, in the year 187 j^ to the election of Taylor, 
the democratic candidate for governor, and Mr. Cate, the 
mover of the resolution, objected. The objection was sus- 
tained, and his other objections, all of which were sustained 
by his democratic colleagues, prevented any investigation 
whatever into the political corruptions of 1873, the year the 
resolution demanded should be looked into. 

The inquisition then proceeded into a domain not covered 
by the resolution, against Carpenter, Keyes and Payne, who 
were not only not subpoenaed or notified to be present as 
witnesses in their own behalf, but were compelled, in order 
to have a hearing, to go personally to Washington and de- 
mand it. 

The besmirchers were put on the stand and gave the tes- 
timony that was expected of and in many instances prepared 
for them, and were hustled home as quickly as possible so 
their evidence could not be destroyed by cross-examination 
or rebuttal. As the wicked and indecent farce progressed, 
some interesting developments were made. The friendly 
revenue officer who collected a sum of money, as already 
mentioned, was afterward arrested, but to avoid trial and 
punishment escaped into the Canadian forests. lie appeared 
as a witness for the conspirators at the investigation in Wash- 
ington. On being closely pressed he admitted that the 
scheme to taint Carpenter, Keyes and Payne was concocted 
by a few of the political enemies of the former in Milwau- 



BAFFLED CONSPIRATORS. 477 

kee; that one of them visited him in Canada, promising im- 
munity if he would return and give testimony implicating 
and besmirching those three; that in order to secure such 
immunit}'^ he agreed to so testify, at least against Carpenter ; 
that the immunity was then delivered to him in Canada in 
writing ; that he returned to the United States, and that, hav- 
ing put himself under oath, he found he could not keep his 
promise — could not deliver the inculpating testimony against 
Carpenter that he had promised as the price of his im- 
munity. 

Thus had the clever official, who was indeed guilty, 
though Carpenter had no knowledge of it, fooled, outwitted 
and baffled the conspirators. He then went on to testify that 
Carpenter and his friends did not know of the crooked dis- 
tilling, did not receive any corruption money from the 
" crooks," were not acquainted with his own corrupt trans- 
actions then or thereafter, and, so far as he knew, had no 
connection, dishonorable or otherwise, with the " whisky- 
ring " or with any of its members. 

When this investigation, conceived in political malice and 
carried forward for the destruction of private character, 
drew to an end, Carpenter and his friends returned home, 
where they were met with popular ovations. Carpenter ar- 
rived in Milwaukee at sunset, and on being driven to his 
residence found a band of music and several thousand friends 
and admirers assembled to greet him. Judge Levi Hubbell, 
in a brief address on behalf of the people, welcomed him 
home. Carpenter, visibly alTected by his emotions, replied: 

Fellow- Citizens, Neighbors and Friends: — The highest delight of 
human life is welcome home — 

" Home, home ; sweet, sweet home ; 
Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home." 

The laborer is supported amid the hours of work by the expectation of 
a happy reunion at the evening meal. The sailor, toiling upon the deep, 
the soldier, suffering the privations and meeting the dangers of war, are 
sustained by the thought that a loving wife is presiding at home, and prat- 
tling voices will greet his return. The great heroes of Rome carried the 



47^ LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

imperial eagles over tlie desert, through the wilderness, and throughout the 
world, to win a popular reception within the walls of Rome. 

I thank you, gentlemen, for this manifestation of your regard, and I ap- 
preciate it all the more that it is in no way connected with politics. You 
do not come to greet a politician ; you come to meet a neighbor and friend. 

Your speaker has alluded to certain investigations lately had in Wash- 
ington, intended to show that I had some connection with the manufacture 
of whi^^ky, and to the fact that the investigation failed to fix any disgrace 
upon me. Friendship and prejudice, love and hatred, are the counterparts 
of each other. If a man has warm friends he will have bitter enemies. 
This demonstration shows that I have friends, and I accept "the conse- 
quence, and admit I have enemies; bitter, malignant, determined ene- 
mies. They kept the grand jury in session for weeks, fishing for some 
whelp who could blacken me, but they did not find him. They then ap- 
plied to the house of representatives, hoping that, because the house was of 
opposite politics to that professed by me, they could accomplish what they 
had failed to accomplish by a grand jury.l Well, the investigation came 
and passed, and injured no one but those who set it on foot. 

It gave an opportunity to prove the utter falsehood of the charges made, 
and will probably satisfy my enemies that they have been on a false scent. 

Again, gentlemen, let me thank you for your call this evening. In you 
I recognize, not those who stand by when a man can stand by himself, 
friends to share his prosperity and profit by his advancement. You have 
been mv friends in storm and disaster, when clouds sank low and waves 
dashed high. I had been defeated in my contest for re-election to the sen- 
ate, my character was assailed, and everything malice could invent had 
been poured out against me. But a large crowd of friends awaited me at 
the Milwaukee depot on my return from Madison, under the impulse of 
friendship warm enough to defy the atmosphere, below zero — the train an 
hour and a half behindhand; the wind blowing a gale — to soothe my 
wounded pr;de and show that, though defeated, I was not deserted. That 
was as delicate a compliment as was ever paid to a man on earth. Success 
is always greeted. Everybody is a friend to the conqueror ; but it is rare 
indeed that friends stand firmly around the conquered to soften the mortifi- 

1 While the grand jury was in session in Milwaukee, two or three ugly 
republicans conspired to have Carpenter imlicted for receiving, while a sen- 
ator, money from the " whisky-ring." The attempt, ofcom-se, failed. At this 
time he wrote to his wife, from Washington: "Dear Girl: — I hope you 
did not allow yourself to be disturbed over the attempt to indict me. It 
would have hurt my enemies, not me, if an indictment had been found and 
a public trial had. I was not at all alarmed, because I knew there was not 
a fact or thing against me. I did not be.ieve anybody would commit per- 
jury against me, and I knew, if they did, I could roll the matter back on 
them." 



BAFFLED CONSPIRATORS. 479 

cation of defeat. Your friendship I appreciate ; it touches every spring of 
gratitude in my nature ; and until my heart ceases to beat it will be my am- 
bition to show myself worthy as possible of such friends and such friend- 
ship. 

When congress met in the following winter, the report of 
the scavengers showed such a painful lack of testimony im- 
plicating any except indicted revenue officials and illicit dis- 
tillers, that the matter was dropped in disgust — it ought to 
be said, in shame. Subsequently Judge Gate, the author of 
the resolution to investigate "Wisconsin, admitted that, though 
he had been led into the investigation sincerely believing 
there was some foundation for the charges against Carpenter, 
he had become fully satisfied there was none. In fact his 
words have been by himself committed to writing, as follows: 

Stevens Point, December 25, 1878. 
Hon. Thomas H. McDill: 

Dear Sir — In reply to your note asking for my opinion as to the result 
of the investigation had in the forty-iifth congress, relative to the alleged 
whisky frauds in Wisconsin, as aftecting the Hon. E. W. Keyes, I have to 
say that the resolution under which the investigation was had was intro- 
duced by me, and the evidence was introduced mainly under my direction, 
and has been printed, so that all disposed to do so may read it and judge for 
themselves. But answering your question as briefly and directly as possi- 
ble, the evidence, judged from a practical standpoint, failed to implicate 
either Mr. Keyes or Mr. Carpenter in such frauds, and such was the opinion 
of all the members of the committee before which the testimony was given. 
I talked with all or nearly all the members in regard to a report, and the 
conclusion was that the charge, so far as those gentlemen were concerned, 
was wholly unproven. Very respectfully, 

G. W. Gate. 

The following scrap of testimony by James Coleman, 
corroborated by Hiram S. Town, John E. Eldred, Dana C. 
Lamb and others, shows that instead of being corrupt dur- 
ing his second campaign. Carpenter prevented corruption: 

By Mr. Carpenter: 

Q. Do you know of any proposition being made to me or to my leading 
friends there at that time for furnishing votes of members of the legislature 
for a pecuniary consideration.'' 

A. Not personally, but I know this : that if it had been necessary at any 



480 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

time during the campaign in Madison to elect you by the use of money, it 
could have been done with very little trouble. 

Q. Did you hear me say anything to my friends there upon the subject? 

A. I was present on one or two occasions in your room when this propo- 
sition was made to you (the necessary number of votes to nominate or 
elect you was, I think, six); the proposition was made, I think, on one or 
two occasions, that for the sum of $3,000 as a maximum, or $2,000 (the 
minimum), six democratic members would vote for you and secure your 
election. You were very indignant at the proposition, and gave the boys a 
severe lecture for talking with anybody on that question or for talking with 
you on the subject, and stated to them on two occasions that if you knew 
that if your election -were secured by the use of a dollar^ you -would not take 
your seat. 



MISCELLANEOUS ADDRESSES. 481 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS ADDRESSES. 

The law and miscellaneous speeches of Carpenter were so 
numerous that a volume might be consumed in cataloguing 
them. A few not already mentioned in connection with the 
important subjects to which they relate will be referred to 
now; but numbers of them must be passed over without 
notice. Some of them were incomparably beautiful, some 
prophetic, some ingenious and unique, others philosophical, 
and many tender; but those of the war period swayed pop- 
ular audiences as the hurricane billows the forest or the sea. 

After 1861 he was in demand on speech-making occasions 
everywhere — at fairs, receptions, banquets, presentations, 
dedications, memorial services, on the stump and at Fourth 
of July celebrations. Therefore, from 1850 to 1881 he must 
have spoken on such occasions, in court and on the floor of 
the senate, at least two thousand times. But, unfortunately, 
no man who has spoken so much or so well has left so little 
behind. Hardly a dozen occasions are known, outside of 
the requirements of court rules, in which he composed ad- 
dresses before their delivery. Hence, not one of those 
handed down by reporters is at all comparable with the 
original in felicitous expression, intelligent punctuation or 
striking metaphor. 

Thus has his wit been shorn of. its sparkle, his diction of 
its mellifluousness, his satire of its refinement, his rapier 
thrusts of their vital effect, his arguments of their perfect 
lucidity and his pathos of its divine tenderness. Carpenter's 
speeches lost as much by distillation through the newspaper 
as champagne does by evaporation under the noon-day sun. 
Some of his most attractive and profound addresses have 
been delivered at Fourth of July celebrations. On such oc- 
casions he frequently proceeded learnedly to define the true 
31 



482 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

province and theory of government or of citizenship, and to 
dwell upon the future greatness of the American republic 
with earnest and prophetic eloquence. But these, like the 
uproar amidst which they were delivered, were borne by the 
winds to their echoless chambers, beyond the reach of 
human record. 

SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY HEROES. 

Undoubtedly the first attempt in the United States to erect 
a public monument to the memory of the soldiers who fell 
in the Rebellion took form in Grant county, Wis., early in 
1861. But as the war was prolonged, the soldier-dead of 
the patriotic county continued to increase, until almost every 
family in it had a sorrowful interest in the project, and it was 
not until July 4, 1867, that the splendid tribute to those who 
gave up their lives that the Union might not perish, was 
formally dedicated. The shaft, which is of pure white mar- 
ble, contains the names of seven hundred and fifty sacrifices 
upon the altar of liberty, and rears its eagle-crest above the 
surrounding buildings of the city of Lancaster. 

The dedicatory ceremonies brought out the largest con- 
gregation ever witnessed in the southwestern portion of the 
state — the entire people of a populous county had gathered 
at the grave of seven hundred and fifty of her martyr chil- 
dren. Carpenter delivered the regular oration. He pre- 
pared na notes, and there was no phonographic reporter 
present; but it was so marked in its character and eloquence 
that it has been forgotten by no one in Grant county. That 
and the dedication of the monument stand out as memorable 
events, still referred to with pride and pleasure. 

He closely imitated Pericles in his funeral celebration at 
the close of the Peloponnesian war — proceeded to discuss by 
what means America had become a great nation, examined 
the rectitude of the intentions of those who founded it and of 
those who fought in the Revolution and for the suppression 
of the Rebellion, celebrated and affirmed their bravery, and 



SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY HEROES. 483 

opened the broad gates of the glorious future of his country. 
From H. M. Page's recollection of the oration, a few sen- 
tences will be quoted: 

Previous to the advent of Christ, no one dreamed, no philosopher medi- 
tated, no poet sang, of the universal brotherhood of man. Governments 
were erected for the benefit of a single nation or class, often for a small 
territory or single city. When Pericles said, "all participate in an equality 
of rights," etc., he meant all Athenians so participated. 

But it is the crowning glory of our holy religion that it was intended, and 
is destined, to reform all things that pertain to or spring from man. Jesus 
came to establish a kingdom — or, as we would now say, a state, commu- 
nity, or commonwealth — not for a particular state, race, or color, but for 
man; for all times, for all generations. He therefore laid its foundations 
broad and deep. It knew no distinctions of nationalities, or of caste, or of 
color. Jew and Gentile, Greek and barbarian, bond and free, black and 
white, were invited to his standard, baptized into his kingdom, and made 
equal in participation of benefits, each being estimated for his own character 
and conduct, and not preferred because he was born in this city, or on thai 
mountain. 

The Fourth of July deserves commemoration for this, that the same idea 
was then for the first time carried into the philosophy of government on a 
grand scale. Then for the first time was it announced, not that all Ameri- 
cans, not all Englishmen, not all Frenchmen — but all men are created 
equal, and equally entitled to a voice in the government which disposes of 
their liberties, their property and their lives This was the new idea that 
has rendered that day immortal in the affections of men. To sustain their 
declaration our fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred 
honor. For seven long years the contest was waged, on terms most un- 
equal, by a handful of liberty-loving men, without armies or navies, alli- 
ances or revenue, against the mistress of the seas and one of the Jnost pow- 
erful monarchies then on the earth. But the result was never doubtful. 
The battle is not always to the strong. God was on the throne of the uni- 
verse, nor slumbering nor sleeping; and truth and justice prevailed over 
injustice and oppression. 

Then our fathers met and framed a constitution of government, designed 
to carry into practice the truths contained in this declaration. But they 
were statesmen, not fanatics. Slavery was a fact in twelve of the thirteen 
states. They did not instantly and by violence eradicate it (rom the woof 
and web of society; though they did establish a form of government, with 
such discriminations in favor of liberty as in their opinion would secure the 
speedy destruction of slavery. So the Son of Man established the King- 
dom of God. He came into a world cursed with sin, wet with tears, filled 
with iniquity. He could have called legions of angels to enforce and ex- 



484 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

ecute his plan*, and establish his authority and dominion among men. 
But he knew a better way. He wasted no time or strength in cleansing 
the stream, but sought to purify the fountain. He laid no edicts upon the 
details of human actions, he taught pure principles, and laid his hand upon 
the hearts of men, knowing that if they were made right, the streams that 
issue therefrom, the currents of human action, would take care of them- 
selves. Our fathers did likewise, and trusted to the improvements of time 
and the courses of Divine Providence to accomplish in all our borders 
universal freedom and equal rights among all men, as men, and because 

men. ' 

********* 

The brave men to whose memory this monument was erected were 
therefore the'champions of liberty. They fell to reduce the boast of Pericles 
to-a practical and universal fact, as to our institutions. In such a contest 
they succeeded, of course. When such a contest begins all men may 
safely predict the result. When sight fails faith may go on and chant 
the songs of liberty's triumphs; for such triumph is sure to come in God's 
.good time. It is of no consequence that a Bull Run has covered us with 
,'. temporary defeat and chagrin, and hundreds or thousands of our hosts 

have been slain; no consequence to the final result, I mean; it is of con- 
^ sequence in our desolate homes, of deep importance in our bleeding hearts, 
but of no consequence to the result. 

Truth will prevail over falsehood, right over wrong, liberty over slavery, 
as long as God superintends the affiiirs of men. 

Carpenter accused President Johnson of duplicity and con- 
gress of cowardice in dealing with the subject of reconstruct- 
' ing the southern states, saying: 

Congress is now in session only to determine whether they dare express 
theu- will plainly upon this subject. Although elected for the very purposes, 
, " yet \y^en assembled they began to hesitate and palter and wonder if the 

I people would sustain them in such measures of radical cure as the subject 

imperatively demanded, and passed a law half-expressing and half-conceal- 
ing their will; half-right and half-wrong; and the President has kicked the 
abortion and it has fallen to the ground. 
I By this half-way proceeding congress has delayed reconstruction, and still 

farther irritated the feelings of the south. Such is the necessary result of 
8\ich a oourse. If I were going even to cut a dog's tail oft", I would cut it 
off at oi^ce, and have done with it. The congressional plan is to cut off two 
or three inches every two or three days, and thus keep the cur yelping and 
snapping forever. 

This hesitation, letting " I dare not wait upon I would," is unworthy of 
the north and injurious to the south. The cultivation of the soil will be 



ANOTHER SPLENDID ORATION. 485 

neglected, trade will languish, and all the material prosperity of the south 
stand still, until the uncertainty is settled. An absolute despotism is pref- 
erable to an absolute doubt for the government of any people, and it is to 
be hoped that congress will now have the heroism to say in plain Saxon 
whether Phil. Sheridan may remove an obstinate rebel governor in J^ouisi- 
ana, or whether such governor may practically nullify the will of cohgress 
and the nation. 

It is the business of congress to declare its will ; and the duty of the 
President to execute it. And it is the duty of both to move together, and 
at once establish for all time the principles of the declaration of independ- 
ence; construct governments for those states before whose laws all men, 
black and white, shall be equal in their rights; to uphold justice, to curb 
oppression, to extirpate the last vestige and fibre ot slavery and encourage 
liberty — liberty for all men, for all time, for all nations. 

This oration met with high praise from every corner of 
the republic. The Philadelphia -Legal Intelligencer repub- 
lished it and pronounced Carpenter the modern Pericles, with 
no qualities of eloquence or logic absent or diminished. 

ANOTHER SPLENDID ORATION. ^' 

Without doubt the profoundest and most far-seeing oration 
ever delivered in the west in that particular line, was that of 
Carpenter dedicating Memorial Hall, Beloit College, in July, 
1869. He grouped his thoughts and made his deductions 
under the head of " The Mission and Future Foreign Policy 
of the United States." Some trees must be pruned, their 
foliage reduced, a limb lopped off here and there and another 
trimmed and straightened, in order to make them attractive 
and beautiful. Others can not be changed in the least from 
the original design and growth of nature without destroyiag 
their perfect grace and beauty. Carpenter's oration at 
Beloit is like that class of trees. It can not be subjected to 
reduction, extraction or change without disaster. . 

His review of our past foreign policy was scathing. He 
averred that if England should pay the losses inflicted by the 
Alabama it would not cure the insult to our nation, ana that 
we might, at any time in the future, resent the outrage by.. 



*' '■ • 



^86 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

war or diplomacy. " We should not," he held, " by accept- 
ing money for this injury, proclaim to the world that we are 
a nation of peddlers; that we look only to cash balances; 
that any foreign nation is at liberty to fire upon our flag, in- 
sult our sovereignty, wring our noses, mid send us a checks 
He contrasted with brilliant effect the difference between 
Webster's treatment of England when the British sent the 
Caroline blazing over Niagara, during the Canadian revolt, 
and England's treatment of the north for the arrest of Mason 
and Slidell, two rebels, on a British vessel, by a Union officer. 
The British foreign office demanded an immediate release of 
the prisoners and an apology, and Seward complied. Thun- 
dered Carpenter: 

That reply, in seventeen solid pages, more or less, is the most uncandid 
and shameful paper that ever emanated from an American secretarjr of 
state. * * * For all these injuries, and all this insolence, we have a 
right to hold England responsible, as one nation must answer to another. 
We have a perfect right to go to war with her if we please, and that right 
will keep. We can bide our time, select the occasion, and if, in some crisis 
of her political destiny, we should see that it was in our power, by enforcing 
our utmost rights by war, to be an instrumei^in the hands of God to avenge 
the outrages committed by that blood-stained old monarchy, and in estab- 
lishing the preponderance of the republican element of her people, no prin- 
ciple of the law of nations would be violated because we had chosen that 
moment for the stern enforcement of our just rights. * * * The great 
offense of England was an offense against the world, an act of rebellion 
against the moral government of God, and we have no right to take the 
place of the Ahnighty and compound her crimes for money. The wages 
of sin in the individual is death. The wages of sin in the cause of a great 
nation is destruction. 

The boldness and boundlessness of his statesmanship were 
unfolded in the discussion of the struggles of other nations 
for freedom. He put forth: "We have grown to such im- 
portance as a nation that we can no longer wink at one 
nation's oppression of another, or stand by while a wrong is 
committed which it is within our power to prevent, without 
becoming responsible morally for that wrong." He then 
admitted that this was contrary to the injunction of Wash- 



ANOTHER SPLENDID ORATION. 487 

ington's farewell address, but pointed out that the Father 
of his Country was then speaking to children in the nursery: 

But that condition has passed; that immunity which is granted to child- 
hood and helplessness has ceased. We have attained our manhood, and 
must now face the duties and bear the responsibilities of" manhood. We 
must be about our father's business. But, says the objector, no ma'ter if it 
is our duty; to do our duty will get us into war, and war increases taxa- 
tion; * * * we can grow very rich, though despotism may violate all 
the law in other places, and extinguish every impulse or longing for liberty 
elsewhere. I say, away with this philosophy of gain, this wisdom of the 
peddler. If it is right to stand by and silently witness wrongs we might 
arrest, let us do so because it is right, and not because it might cost money 
to do our duty. Everything is expensive. It costs time to pray; costs 
money to clothe our wives and educate our children ; costs money to sus- 
tain civil government, to administer justice, and to carry forward the 
methods of our complex civilization. But what was this vast continent, its 
rich fields, its exhaustless mines, its facilities for commeice, its immeasur- 
able and yet undeveloped resources of national wealth, given to us for.' 
That we might become the richest and m.ost corrupt nation on earth ? Or 
have we received them from the Giver of all good to use in His service, and 
in trust for the benefit of our race.'' 

In speaking of the college students who fell in the Rebell- 
ion, and in whose honor Memorial Hall was erected, he said : 

It now devolves upon us who survive to determine whether their lives 
were laid down in vain. And in no way, I conceive, can we so truly honor 
them as in studying well and performing faithfully the duty they cast upon 
us. If we prove equal to our opportunity, if we stand firmly for justice and 
for equality among all men, if we keep the lamp of liberty burning, and 
allow its light to shine from our altitude throughout the world, we honor 
them; they have not died in vain; therefore, it seems to be appropriate to 
this occasion to inquire into our new duties, and gird ourselves for their 
performance. They died for others, not for themselves; let us so live as 
to exert the influence of the exalted position they have conreri*ed upon us 
for the welfare of mankind and not for the attainment of selfish ends. 

A great audience of scholars, officials, patriots and gen- 
erals was present when this address was delivered. The 
occasion. President Chapin has written, was one of the most 
interesting in the history of Beloit College, one of the oldest 
institutions of learning in Wisconsin. On the same day, July 
15, 1869, the board of trustees of the college spontaneously 



488 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

and unanimously conferred upon Carpenter the degree of 
LL. D. Tlie announcement of this action -by the board was 
publicly made as a part of the services of the day, and by that 
means first came to Carpenter's knowledge. He was always 
held in high esteem by the college officers and students, 
though in early years he attempted to rule out the votes of 
the non-resident students at one of the state elections. The 
attempt was made at the request and for the benefit of the 
<iemocracy. President Chapin presented the intrinsic merits 
of the case, and Carpenter was defeated; but his plea, Mr. 
Chapin writes, " was one of extraordinary plausibility and 
ingenuity." 

ADVICE TO YOUNG LAWYERS 

In 1869 the members of the graduating class of Colum- 
bian University, Washington, by vote elected Carpenter to 
deliver the annual address. He accepted, and gave them an 
original, unique and practical sermon. The effort was 
printed in pamphlet form, and continues to grow in demand 
at all universities, schools and libraries frequented by law 
students. He hoped the graduates were poor, regarding 
poverty as indispensable to success, and observed: 

A rich man may, possibly, enter into the kingdom of Heaven; so a rich 
■man may, possibly, become a good lawyer, but I always pity him when 1 
think how fearfully the chances are agavnst him. * * * Leave Wash- 
ington, where a man is estimated according to the place he is in and not ac- 
cording to the qualities that are in him. * * * In admonishing you to 
keep out of politics, of course I do nol mean that you are to sink your man- 
■hood or waive the participation which it is the right and duty of every 
American citizen to exorcise in influencing the course of political events. 
What I mean is that you should avoid ollicc-seeking and office-holding. 
♦ * * If you can not endure to occupy the highest position in American 
bfe — an eminent place at the bar — I beseech you to stop on the bench and 
not fall into the dirty pools of politics. » * * If you have the slightest 
doubt of the soundness of the advice I have olTercd you, wait till you have 
achieved a respectable position at the bar and then accept a seat in the sen- 
ate, and I venture the prediction that your judgment will condemn your 
weakness, as mine does my own. 



ADVICE TO YOUNG LAWYERS. 489 

Having advised the fledgling attorneys to select a location 
in the west or south, he adjured them not to be particular as 
to office furniture, but to store their rooms "with all the 
books they could borrow the money to purchase." He then 
advised them how to purchase: 

The statutes and reports of your adopted state and the best elementary 
works will, of course, be indispensable. Next, buy the New York reports, 
which will furnish you with ingeniously-reasoned cases on every side of 
every question ; and then, to relieve a little bewilderment of the inexpe- 
rienced mind, tossed to and fro by reading New York decisions, you will 
need the sobering influence and steady support of the Massachusetts re- 
ports; and then — if any part of the constitution of the United States be 
left — you will need the decisions of the federal courts. Next, and before 
the reports of other states, I would buy all the English common law and 
chancery reports and continue them with the present series, bringing in the 
decisions of the English courts within a few weeks after their actual de- 
livery. Then you will want the English statutes and state trials, and then 
the reports of the American states not before procured. 

You should also be purchasing, pari passu, and as fast as possible, all 
those works which belong to the border land between literature and the 
law, the best treatises upon the science of politics and of government, con- 
stitutional histories, English and American. Especially should ^'ou have 
and know by heart Lewis on the Reasonings and Methods in Politics and 
Austin on the Province of Jurisprudence, together with the works of em- 
inent English and American lawyers and statesmen — Burke, Sheridan, 
Webster and Calhoun — by no means neglecting the philosophers and 
poets, theology and history, and be sure to have the best copies money will 
buy of Shakespeare and Waverly, so that when the misiortunes of life 
multiply upon you and their clouds settle low; when the courts by horrible 
blundering decide a good cause against you, which decided correctly would 
have brought fame and fat fees ; when your landlord is impatient for rent 
and your heart cast down before the rugged realities of life, you may re- 
store your spirits in the sweet field of innocent fiction and divine fancy. 

He laid emphasis on the necessity of method in reading. 
" For instance," he directed, " from ten to eleven o'clock 
each day read nothing but treatises and reports upon equi- 
table jurisprudence; from elev^en to twelve devote to evidence; 
from twelve to one to pleading and practice, and so on. 
But it is not so much what your method may be as that you 
have a method, and then adhere to it." 



490 LIFE OF CARl'ENTER. 

Among ihe injunctions that must not be disobeyed was 
that requiring a thorough reading and close study of the 
opinions of John Marshall. He related, to fix this adjuration 
upon the minds of the students, an incident: 

I recollect reading, while a student, the argument of Mr. Webster upon 
the qiie-^tion of the constitutionality of state insolvent laws, as fully re- 
ported in Mr. Everett's edition of Mr. Webster's works, and before I knew 
how the case had been decided by the supreme court of the United States. 
While reading that argument I was carried along captive, through para- 
graph after paragraph, from proposition to proposition, and when I had fin- 
ished it I never thought ol looking to see how the case was decided, because 
I would have made my affidavit that Webster's argument was wholly un- 
answerable, and of course the case must have been decided with him. And 
when I found, a year or two later, that tlie court decided the case the other 
way, I recollect th;it I lost coafidence in human reasoning for the space of 
ten davs. Nothing finally consoled this disappointment exct-pt the fact that 
the great chief justice dissented from the decision of the court and canon- 
ized the argument of Mr. Webster. But for this I think I should have con- 
cluded that logii:was an unsafe guide in the labyrinths of the law; however, 
I satisfied the wounded pride of my boyish judgment by resolving that 
Webster and Marshall were greater authority ihan the rest of mankind com- 
bined, and that Webster was right thougli he did not succeed. 

Webster once said a good lawyer, at his death, should have 
neither a debt nor a dollar. Carpenter said a lawyer must 
make money enough to pay his bills. " Save money," he 
cried, " if you can ; but how you are to do it must be learned 
of somebody besides me." He went on: 

And vet the profession has its rewards. " Heaven is above all yet. There 
sits a judge " whose approbation is the lawyer's highest reward. And even 
in this world the profession has its rewards. Who would think of weighing 
gold against tears of gratitude trickling d'^wn the cheek of poverty rescued 
by your ability, your courage, and your fidelity, from an unmerited doom. 
You all remember how Mr. Seward, while at the bar, without fee or re- 
ward, and braving the uproar of popular clamor, defended a Negro against 
the charge of murder on the plea of insanity, which, in the popular belief, 
was a falsehood, although the fact was subsequently verified by the death of 
the Negro in an insane asylum. This was years ago — prior to the thir- 
teenth, the fourteenth and the fifteenth amendments of the constitution — 
and before the Negro became an object of national justice and political 
affection. 

Mr. Seward has since passed through an eventful and illustrious career of 



A CHARITY HOMILY. 49 1 

public life, during which he has " sounded all the depths and shoals of 
honor," and has finally retired to Auburn to collect his thoughts and com- 
pose his soul before leaving the shores of time to enter upon an eternal 
career beyond the celestial gates. And methinks, as he sits in that tranquil 
retreat, looking out upon the uneasy and stormy world, where " restless 
mediocrity " is rising to the surface to-day to sink out of sight to-morrow, 
and looking back over the incidents of his busy life, he would not exchange 
that recollection — the consciousness of duty performed in rescuing this un- 
fortunate individual of a degraded race, smitten with mental m.dady, and 
in peril of the prejudice, the passions, the rage of the populace, more fearful 
than maladies — for the largest fee he ever received, or for the memory of 
the proudest achievement of his political life. This conspicuous act of pro- 
fessional bravery and charity will grow brighter and brighter through Mr. 
Seward's mortal life, and when he shall stand before the Son of Man at 
that fearful winnowing which shall separate the wheat from chaff, that awful 
judgment which shall forever divide the just from the unjust, he may point 
to this act of his life which, eighteen hundred years be*bre it was performed, 
received the Master's approbation. 

"Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come, ye blessed 
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of 
the world: for I was an hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and 
ye ga\ e me drink ; I was a stranger and ye took me in ; naked and ye clothed 
me; I was sick and ye visited me; I was in prison and ye came in unto me. 
Then shall the righteous answer him saying: When saw we thee an hungered 
and fed thee.'' Or thirsty and gave thee drink.? When saw we thee a 
stranger and took thee in.'' Or naked and clothed thee.' Or when saw we 
thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee.'' And the king shall answer and 
say unto them : Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." * * * 

Some of you will be democrats and some republicans. As to all matters 
of mere political economy and policy you may divide in opinion and con- 
tend in action; but you must remember that whenever the slightest letter 
of the constitution is imperiled you are the sworn champions of that sacred 
charter, and you must forget all political differences and rally to its support 
like a priesthood rallying to the defense of a holy shrine. And if the con- 
stitution shall be stabbed to death by its foes, let not its expiring spirit turn 
upon you with the reproach, sharper than a thousand daggers, " et tu 
Brute! " 

A CHARITY HOMILY. 

On the 13th day of August, 1868, the corner-stone of the 
Taylor Orplian Asylum, one of the noble charities of the 
northwest, was laid at Racine, Wisconsin, amidst elaborate 



492 



LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



civil and religious ceremonies. Carpenter was the orator of 
the day. Some extracts may be preserved, not to demon- 
strate his felicity of speech on such an occasion, but to 
illustrate the foundation tenets of his every-day religion: 

Isaac Taylor was born in England in iSio. He was left an orphan, m 
tender years, and learning from a conversation, which he hastily overheard, 
that he was to be sent to the poor-house for orphan children, he ran away; 
and by laboring in different places for several years, earned and saved 
money enough to bring him to America. He landed in New York in 1S2S. 
In 1842 he removed to Racine, and resided here, actively engaged in busi- j 
ness at this place and in Chicago, until his death. Wealth flowed to him, 
but did not sweep him from his moorings; did not harden his heart or 
wither his sympathies for the oppressed or the afflicted. 

Mr. Taylor executed a will leaving all his property unconditionally to 
his wife. He had always meditated establishing an orphan asylum at this 
place, and was maturing plans to carry this purpose into olTcct when he 
was overtaken by his last sickness. After he became aware of his situa- 
tion, he called his wife to his bed-side, and made it the subject of his dying 
request, that she should carry out his purpose in this respect. Mrs. Taylor 
survived her husband only ten months; but left a will, Avhich accomplishes 
the w sh of her husband, and secures the permanent existence of this 
institution of benevolence and charity, as she expressed it herself, "a5 a 
memorial to him." 

Mrs. Taylor bequeathed to the Racine College, $65,o<x); to the Nashota 
College, $5,000; to the orphan asylum in Cleveland, $6,000; to the Home 
of the Friendless, $1,000; to the Racine Cemetery Association, $3,000; 
about $175,000 to her relatives and friends; and the magnificent sum of 
$150,000 to trustees for the purpose of establishing this orphan asylum; 
$25,000 to be invested in grounds and buildings, and $125,000 to remain a 
permanent fund for the support of the institution. Its benefits are to be 
extended first to the orphans of Racine county, and then as far as possible 
to the orphans of the state generally. 

This fund was not left to a board of trustees compo'^ed of men, but left as 
such a sacred bequest should have been, to five ladies of Racine — Mrs. 
Perrine, Mrs. Dyer, Mrs. Murray, Mrs. Taplcy and Mrs. Gould. No better 
guaranty could be expected that tliis fund will be faithfully guarded and 
religiously applied than is found in the tender consciences and affectionate 
hearts of five noble women. If they — supplied with this full fund for the 
purpose — do not hear and heed the cry of the fatherless, then may God 
have mercy upon them, for surely no human arrangement can insure their 
relief. 

The world is overrun with fine sentiments, loud-sounding creeds, and the 
doctrines and precepts of charity. Here we see an act of charity. Others 



A CHARITY HOMILY. 493 

have talked generously, that is easy and cheap; but he has acted gener- 
ously, nobly, benevolently. He has founded an institution to shelter the 
helpless; to clothe and feed them; to rear them to useful and virtuous 
lives ; to teach them the truths of our holy religion ; truths that take hold 
on the future life, and promise blessings which it hath not entered into the 
heart of man to conceive. 

"If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of 
you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwith- 
standing ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, iv/iai 
doth it fro fit ? " 

The poor want less talk and more bread. The world needs less doctrine 
and more religion ; less of form and more of substance; less of the pretend- 
ing and more of the reality of godliness and charity. The money worse 
than wasted in the superfluities of life, in silk and satin to be draggled by 
our wives and daughters through filthy streets, would clothe all the orphans 
in the world. 

The money spent in whisky to madden the brain, in tobacco to shatter 
the nerves, in politics to promote the demagogues, would carry all the com- 
forts of life to every hearth-stone in the land; educate the ignorant; lift up 
the oppressed; and pour qil and wine into all the wounds of suffering 
humanity. 

But of all the duties of life, there is none that touches us so near the 
tender emotions of the heart, none that is commanded by God in language 
of such solemn and awful warning, as the duty of protecting the unpro- 
tected, and befriending the fatherless child. In that great code given by 
God himself to his chosen people, a code which mingles Tnunicipal regula- 
tions with moral precepts, it is written, " Ye shall not afllict any widow or 
fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any tvise, and they cry at all unto 
me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill 
you with the sword, and your -wives shall be widows, and your children 
fatJierleas.^^ 

If we could realize the full force of this passage, and if we could feel in 
our hearts that in the person of the beggar on the corner Jesus is holding 
up his hands for alms; that in the cry of the orphan Jesus is pleading with 
us for shelter and food and raiment; that in every prison to-day Jesus is 
languishing, and in many a hovel starving; would we turn away so calmly 
and spend our money for whisky and cigars, for diamond rings and satin 
dresses? 

If we were alive to the truth and fully realized it, could we ever fold our 
little ones to our bosoms without thinking of those who have no father to 
gather them in the clasp of affection.'' But the ti-ouble is, we do not think, 
and " Evil is wrought by want of thought as well as want of heart." 
The poor are not neglected because the rich are devoid of feeling. But 
without some special experience or startling call we go thoughtlessly on, 
never heeding the misery that is around us on every hand. 



494 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

" Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him; for yc were stran- 
gers in the land of Egypt." It is fair to infer that they were strangers so 
that they might not thereafter vex and oppress the stranger; and their ex- 
perience is improved to instruct them in their duty. All his early recollec- 
tions were calling to Isaac Taylor, "remember the fatherless, for ye were 
fatherless." It is a mysterious economy that some must suffer for the good 
of others. But so it is. One suffers sorrow that he may remember to re- 
lieve the sorrows of others; and Jesus, himself sinless, died to redeem the 
world from the penalty of sin. 

Let us go from this place taught by the example of him who has gone 
before us, and resolved to the extent of our means to relieve whatever suf- 
fering we may meet. By charity, by benevolence, by kind-heartedness, 
"We may make our lives sublime. 
And departing, leave behind us 
Foot-prints in the sands of time." 

FIFTY THOUSAND HEARERS. 

For many yeairs after 1868 it was said Carpenter, like 
Lord Byron, awoke one morning and found himself famous. 
This was not strictly true, but the occasion was so extraor- 
dinary as to merit special attention. He was invited by the 
Republican Fenian Club, of Illinois, to address them at a 
mass-meeting on August 12, 1868, in Chicago, and accepted. 
When the ceremonies opened he found over thirty thousand 
people present, and after proceeding for a time the proces- 
sion, with bands, cannons, torches and rockets, came in, and 
the vast throng was then swollen to fifty thousand. 

lie drew a parallel, or contrast, between the struggle for 
freedom in the United States and in Ireland, and pointed out 
how the democracy here, and the English government there, 
had championed the cause of bondage. Neither one, he de- 
clared, had ever been the friend of freedom or the Irish 
nation. After tracing history down to Fenianism and the 
Rebellion, he said: 

Well, after a while, the war came out just as every man who believes God 
sits on His throne, and prefers truth to falsehood, justice to injustice, lib- 
ertv to slavery, might have predicted it would come out. It came out 
with the triumph of all good things over all bad things. 

* * * As the right has always triumphed, so it always will. Join 
your hands, then, and join your voices with the party which is pledged to 
'see every man free. 



A FUNERAL ORATION. 495 

For days the newspapers of the country teemed with the 
praises of Carpenter. They contended that he held a larger 
audience than had ever before been addressed by any man 
in America, and that his speech was that of a profound 
statesman and consummate orator. 

A FUNERAL ORATION. 

One of Carpenter's favorite divines, Father James Cook 
Richmond, was murdered at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., July, 
1866. A few days later the members of his former flock 
gathered in Trinity church, Milwaukee, to weep over his 
death and pay tribute to his virtues. Carpenter was chosen 
to give voice to their lamentations and laudations. It was an 
utterance powerful in description, fascinating in eloquence 
and tender in pathos. Only a few paragraphs describing in- 
cidents of his own life will be extracted from an imperfect 
report of it: 

In 1S61, when our Second regiment marched to the field, Father Rich- 
mond went with it as chaplain. On his way to the cars, he came, in his 
hurried and agitated manner, into my office, and found James Mitchell and 
myself there alone. He had been parting with friends, his eyes were filled 
with tears, his voice was tremulous with emotion, and his whole frame 
shook like an aspen in a storm. / shall never forget that impresstz'e scene. 
" Boys," said he, " I have not a moment to spare ; you have been my 
friends always, my true, undoubting friends. I have nothing to give you 
but my blessing; receive it." Froin his majestic and patriarchal authority 
there was no appeal ; we bowed our heads, and with his hands upon them 
he invoked God's blessing upon us, and baptized us Avith his tears. He 
then said, "I have a presentiment that I shall never return to the little 
church again ; a presentiment that I shall never return at all. I am not 
very prudent, I may be killed in battle, I may die of disease; if so, let my 
friends meet in the little church and pray; and speak of me just as I was. 
Tell them I had great faults, but tell them that I loved them, and labored 
and longed for their salvation. God bless you, good-bye;" and he disap- 
peared without a word spoken by Mitchell or myself. 

He did return, but not to this church ; he returned to his own home, and 
there met death by violence, and like good Abel, died in the open field. 
Poor Mitchell went first to his final account; and alas! how many mourn- 
ful memories cluster around his grave. As the only survivor of the scene 



496 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

I have related, and within the brief space appropriate to this occasion, let 
me attempt the duty he enjoined upon us; let me try to speak of Father 
Richmond ^'■just as he zvas." 

He was tall, raw-boned, with a haggard look, and in social life was ex- 
tremely awkward; but when the abrupt and angular motions of his arms 
and body were disguised with robes, he seemed the personification of 
majest}'. With what dignity of action he approached the altar. His man- 
ner was so impressive that I never wondered very much at tine excited and 
susceptible little girl 1 who, the first time she ever attended any church, saw 
Father Richmond robed and entering the chancel; and when he opened the 
prayer book, and read in his authoritative style: " The Lord is in His holy 
temple, let all the earth — keep silence — before him," turned to her mother, 
and in a whisper asked, " Is that God, mamma? " His lofty bearing, his care- 
worn, haggard visage, his solemn, penetrating, awe-inspiring voice, his clear 
articulation, his majestic and expressive accent, made you feel in a moment 
that you were in the presence ot a master. 

***** **** 

I can not close without remtinUng- you how sublimely he celebrated the 
ordinances and sacraments of thechurch. I can only remind you of it; no 
tongue could describe it. If you have seen him by the sick-bed of your 
dying children, as I saw him beside mine in the very ante-chamber of death, 
baptizing little innocents, who were just fluttering like stray angels, wan- 
dered unawares from the pearly gate, and longing to return, loth to remain 
in this sin-'Uricken, wretched world ; if you have seen him stretching out his 
arms repeating the solemn service, " We receive this child into the congre- 
gation of Christ's flock, and do sign her with the sign of the cross; " if you 
have clung to him for consolation when your wife and children, in the 
chamber of another dying child, were trembling and crying around you, 
and your own heart-strings were breaking with grief; if you have gone 
with him, been led, sustained and supported by him to the grave of some 
dear one, gone before you; if you have heard froin him, " I am the resurrec- 
tion and the life, and who so believeth in me, even though he were dead, yet 
shall he live again; and whosoever liveth and believeth, the same shall never 
die;" and, then, those dreadful words, that ring in your ears like the knell 
of last hopes while your heart is dissolving with sorrow, '^^ Earth to earth, 
ashes to aslus, dust to dust;" if you have followed him through such scenes, 
then cherish the memory of them m your hearts, you will never know the 
like again. There was but one Father Richmond ; he has gone down to the 
grave. Your sorrows may return, but he can not — 

Richmond "is in his grave; 

" After life's fitful fever, he sferfs well." 

1 Miss Lilian, Carpenter's only daughter. 



DIVINE WORD-PAINTING. 497 

REPUBLICS NOT UNGRATEFUL. 

On Monday, September 27, 1869, the splendid structure 
and magnificent stretch of four hundred acres of oak forest 
and emerald lea, at Milwaukee, called the National Home 
for Disabled Soldiers, were dedicated to the noble use for 
which they were prepared. Carpenter was chosen to make 
a reply to General B. F. Butler's address of welcome. It 
was brief but felicitous. He proclaimed that republics are not 
ungrateful, and that liberal as had been the provision for 
them, the soldiers deserved all the pensions, all the offices, 
all the eulogies and all the national homes that ever had been 
or ever would be set apart for their honor and comfort. 

A TRIBUTE TO THE PRESS. 

At a banquet given June 17, 1873, in La Crosse,"to the 
members of the Wisconsin State Editorial Association, Car- 
penter delivered a brief address. He declared the press 
was " the center of power — nothing could withstand its 
united opposition. The newspapers could have defeated the 
back-pay bill if they had opened upon it a week before the 
final vote was taken." 

DIVINE WORD-PAINTING. 

In the fall of 1871 the Grand Duke Alexis, brother of 
Alexander III, present Czar of Russia, came to the United 
States. He spent some time visiting the chief centers of 
population and commerce, and made Milwaukee a part of 
his itinerancy. A banquet was given in his honor in that city 
January 2, 1872. Carpenter had returned from Washington 
the day before to spend the holiday recess, and was invited 
to be present. As the gorgeous ceremonies progressed, the 
Grand Duke proposed the health of the President of the 
United States. The president of the day, Geo. W. Allen, 
suddenly turned and called upon Carpenter for a response. 
There was no hesitation. The phonographic report of his 
32 



498 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

reply is as follows, though every person present on that oc- 
casion bears testimony that it but poorly compares in ele- 
gance and eloquence with the inspiriting original: 

Mr. President: — The heart of every American citizen responds cor- 
dially to every compliment paid to the chief magistrate of our nation. 
Our people entertain for the great office first filled by Washington habitual 
respect and reverence ; and of the present chief magistrate it is not too much 
to say that no President for many years has held a firmer or warmer place 
in popular affection. This occasion, which is eminently one in the inter- 
ests of peace and national brotherhood, is one in which President Grant 
would take the liveliest interest. Though educated a soldier? and coming 
to the chief magistracy upon the reputation he had won as a leader of 
armies, no President, not even Washington himself, has manifested greater 
solicitude to manage our national affairs in the interests of peace with all 
the world. 

We meet this evening to pay our respects to a member of the royal family 
of Russia; and we greet him, not as a prince merely, but as a man; not as 
an official representative of the Russian government, but as the son of the 
chief executive and head of a great nation which felt and showed warm 
sympathy for us in the greatest of our national trials. A mere diplomatic 
occasion means something or nothing, as the case may be, but this unofficial 
visit, this social journey of our distinguished guest, is, let us hope, an in- 
dication of the continued good feeling existing on the part of Russia toward 
the people of the United States. 

In the situation of Russia and America there is much to draw us into 
international sympathy. The forms of government are totally different. 
But mere form of government is not so material as the manner of practical 
administration. A government which embodies all the elements and at- 
tributes of absolute sovereignty may be carried on with a spirit of liberality 
which will make it a blessing to the people; and free institutions in un- 
worthy hands may be perverted to the worst ends of" tyranny and oppres- 
sion. The progress of liberal sentiments, the emancipation of serfdom, 
and other great reformations, in Russia, have commanded the admiration 
of the world and covered the present reigning dynasty with immortal re- 
nown. Both nations are young and have a future. While England is 
decaying and France distracted, and revolutions threatening to wipe away 
everything established in either country, and while it yet remains to be seen 
what will result, blessing or evil, from the conscliJ.ition of the German 
states in the iron grasp of Prussia, Russia st-^nds out before the world, full 
of strength and resources of youth, and is just entering upon the great 
destiny Providence seems to have designed for her. In the immediate 
future the preponderance of Russia in the councils of Europe seems to be 
certain. Our own country presents, on this continent, much the same 



DEATH OF RE VERB Y JOHNSON. 499 

aspects. Slavery is abolished ; rebellion, which threatened the life of the 
nation, is crushed; and the future supremacy of our counti-y on this con- 
tinent is as clear as any fact which rests in the future for its verification 
can be. 

These two great nations — nations rejoicing in the strength and power of 
youth, with splendid opportunities before them — ought to be friends. In 
this idea, the friendship of two nations thus situated, how much of blessing 
for mankind is embodied. 

The loves and friendships of individuals partake of the frail character of 
human life; are brief and uncertain. The experience of a human life may 
be shortly summed up: A little loving and a good deal of sorrowing; 
some bright hopes and many bitter disappointments ; some gorgeous Thurs- 
days, when the skies are bright and the heavens blue, when Providence, 
bending over us in blessings, glads the heart almost to madness; many 
dismal Fridays, when the smoke of torment beclouds the mind and undy- 
ing sorrows gnaw upon the heart; some high ambitions and many Waterloo 
defeats, until the heart becomes like a charnel house filled with dead 
affections embalmed in holy but sorrowful memories; and then the "silver 
chord is loosed," the "golden bowl is broken," the individual life — a cloud, 
a vapor, passeth away. 

But speaking relatively, a nation may count upon immortality upon 
earth. Individuals rise and fall, generations come and go; but still the 
national unity is preserved, and a government constructed wisely with 
reference to the situation and wants of a nation may exist for centuries. 
Friendship between two nations mav become a deeply cherished and 
hereditary principle, and two great nations, like America and Russia, mav 
walk hand in hand through the brilliant career opened before them, and the 
blessmgs of brotherhood and peace reach countless generations. 

God grant that such may be the relations between these two greatest 
among the nations forever. 

Carpenter's description of mortal frailties, as uttered in 
this response, has from that hour continued an uninterrupted 
round in the current literature of the day as a matchless 
gem of impromptu eloquence and divine word-painting. 

DEATH OF REVERDY JOHNSON. 

The bar of the supreme court of the United States met 
Friday, February i8, 1876, to pay respect to the memory of 
Reverdy Johnson. Carpenter was appointed chairman, and 
on taking the chair addressed the meeting : 

Gentlemen: — We have met to express our sorrow at the death of Rev- 
erdy Johnson, who long ago was attorney-general of the United States, 



500 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

and who, amid the cares and responsibilities of many high political stations, 
at home and abroad, never abandoned the practice of his profession. For 
more than fifty years he steadily advanced in professional reputation, and 
came at length to be regarded as one of the leaders of this bar. 

Considering the extent and variety of his practice ; his natural resources 
and professional attainments; his thorough self-possession and steadiness 
of nerve when the skill of an opponent unexpectedly brought on the 
crisis of a great trial, — an opportunity for feeble men to lose first them- 
selves and then their cause; his fidelity to the oath which was anciently 
administered to all the lawyers of England, to present nothing false, but 
to tnakc -war {or their clients; the audacity of his valor when the fate of 
his client was trembling in the balance, — he believing his client to be 
right, while every one else believed him to be wrong; — remembering all 
these traits, we must rank him with the greatest lawyers and advocates of 
this or any other country. * * * 

I should do violence to my feelings if I did not say one thing more. 
I lovid that old man. When I came first here, with the trembling in- 
spired by the glorious memories of this court, over which John Marshall 
so long presided, Mr. Johnson took me by the hand, gave me fatherly 
recognition, became my adviser, and ever after remained my friend. For 
all his kindness, professional and social, I would be less than a man did I 
not cherish the profoundest gratitude. 

Five years later, when the bar of the supreme court met 
to pronounce eulogiums on Carpenter, the foregoing was 
quoted as a just description of Carpenter himself. 

HIDDEN BLESSINGS. 

In September, 1878, when the people of the south were 
perishing before the yellow-fever scourge like stubble in a 
furnace, the good citizens of Fond du Lac, Wis., held a 
charity concert for the benefit of their stricken fellow-men. 
Carpenter, who was trying an important lawsuit in that city, 
was invited to speak, and, although ill and weary, complied 
with the request. 

Walking to the hall in an apparently moody spirit, he en- 
tered and took a seat on the stage. As other features of the 
programme were to precede his appearance, he retired be- 
hind the scenery. There he found a Bible, which, purely 
by chance, he opened at the Gospel of Matthew. Up to 
that moment he had been undecided as to what he should 



HIDDEN BLESSINGS. 5OI 

say. But the apostle's words gave him inspiration, and, 
after some introductory remarks, holding the Bible in his 
hand, he said: 

These woes have their hidden blessings, and these clouds of sorrow their 
silver lining. When we touch the problems of life by the magic of science, 
conquering as we go, and in all things are elevated by success until a man 
feels like a god, we are brought back by some stroke at our idols, some 
blow within our household, some draught upon our love, to our own true 
nature. These withering scourges, these blighting calamities, mollify our 
natures, increase our generosity, and soften our hearts. Those who passed 
through our late civil war never can have its images swept from their 
minds. Everybody had a husband, friend, brother, father, son, or lover 
before the cannon's mouth, and everybody wished to know whether it went 
well with them. Accordingly, they read the newspapers, and during that 
terrible struggle newspaper reading increased fifty per cent. This made us 
more intelligent; and intelligence means everything that is good — larger 
sympathy, greater love, freer charity. 

Once when Napoleon was pressing a terrible battle, a favorite officer fell 
mangled and dying. The great general ceased the firing, and, kneeling 
over his dying comrade for hours, until his spirit had left its crushed and 
suffering prison, wept, and watched, and prayed. I have often thought 
that perhaps this little incident saved an army from destruction, or a gov- 
ernment from dissolution. And so may this terrible pestilence have its bene- 
fits — it already has them, in opening our hearts, our love and our sympathies. 

Here he brought the Bible before him just as he at first 
opened it, and read with fine effect a portion of the twenty- 
fifth chapter of Matthew, beginning with the thirty-first 
verse. The grand words were never more touchingly and 
eloquendy rendered. He then closed: 

There has been no student of theology since Christ's time who has not 
longed to have followed the Son of Man through all his weary wanderings, 
that he might have listened to his teachings in the wilderness, or as he 
rested beneath the fig-tree shade at noontide, heard the honeyed words fall 
from his own lips ; but I assert upon the authority of this text, that the Son 
of Man is here on earth now, and that you are giving him bounteously of 
your love and worship when you open your hearts to the stricken sufferers 
at Memphis and New Orleans. And you shall have your reward. "Verily, 
I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, my 
brethren, ye have done it unto me." 

Carpenter's sermon — a veritable sermon it was — occu- 
pied thirty minutes. At its conclusion there was not a dry 
eye or an uncharitable heart in the house. 



502 LIFE OF CAItPENTER. 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

IMPARTIAL SUFFRAGE. 

Carpenter was a believer in the righteousness of equal 
suffrage. How or when he was converted to the doctrine, 
or whether he always held it as one of his political tenets, 
can not be stated; but his first public avowal of it was dur- 
ing a great mass-meeting in the Acaderny of Music at Mil- 
waukee, October 4, 1866. He was closing a lofty appeal 
for " impartial suffrage, without regard to color, nationality 
or previous condition," when a person in the assemblage 
queried, " Does that include the women ? " Instantly, in a 
still louder, clearer voice, he replied: "Yes. I always in- 
clude the women in my pleas for impartial suffrage, and I 
always shall." This was greeted with thunders of applause, 
for at that time suffrage was the great question of the hour, 
and the popular impression was that women were as well 
qualified to vote as the Negroes.^ 

In the extended debate on the bill to amend the naturali- 
zation laws, Senator Williams, of Oregon, moved an amend- 
ment providing that " nothing in this act shall be construed 
to authorize the naturalization of persons born in the Chinese 
Empire, or persons of the Negro race of foreign birth." 
This was opposed by Carpenter upon various grounds with 
force and eloquence, and during his speech, in answer to an 
inquiry from Senator Thurman, of Ohio, he proclaimed: "I 
am happy to inform the senator that I am in favor of citizen 
suffrage wiriiout distinction of sex, color or birthplace." 

EQUAL SUFFRAGE PREDICTED. 

Elizabeth Cady Stanton invited Carpenter to be present 
and make an address at a women's suffrage convention held 
at Washington in January, 1870. He answered: 

1 Carpenter's arguments favoring these privileges for Negroes and China 
men have appeared with sufficient clearness elsewhere. 



MYRA BRADWELL S CASE. 5O3 

Washington, January 19. 
Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton: 

Madam — Your favor of the iSth instant, inviting me to address the 
convention novsr in session in this city for the promotion of the cause of 
female suffrage, has been received. I regret that my official duties will 
not allow me the time to comply with this request, but I assure you and 
the ladies with whom you are associated that I am heartily in sympathy 
with the eflForts you are making for the success of the cause which you, es- 
pecially, have so long and so ably advocated. 

I beg further to say that the bestowal of the right of equal political suf- 
frage upon the women of this republic can not, in my judgment, be much 
longer withheld, and that whatever influence I have shall be exerted at 
every proper opportunity to hasten the consummation for which you are 

laboring. 

I have the honor to be very truly yours. 

Matt. H. Carpenter. 
MYRA BRADWELL'S CASE. 

Myra Bradwell, a femme covert^ a lady of fine attainments 
and a citizen of Illinois, applied for admission to practice at 
the bar of the supreme court of that state. The court re- 
fused to admit her, and thereupon a writ of error carried the 
proceedings of the Illinois court to the United States supreme 
court for review. Carpenter made the argument for Mrs. 
Bradwell at the December term, 1871. As an obiter dictum 
he discussed the problem of female suffrage, and that discus- 
sion only can properly have attention at this point. He 
said: 

The great problem of female suffrage, the solution of which lies in our 
immediate future, naturally enough, from its transcendent importance, 
draws to itself in prejudiced minds every question relating to the civil rights 
of women, and it seems to be feared that doing justice to women's rights 
in any particular would probably be followed by the establishment of the 
right of female suffrage, which, it is assumed, would overthrow Christianity, 
defeat the ends of modern civilization, and upturn the world. While I do 
not believe that female suffrage has been secured by the amendments to 
the constitution, I do not look upon that result as at all to be dreaded. 
* * * Commencing with the barbarism of the far east, and journeying 
through the nations to the bright light of civilization in the west, it will 
everywhere be found that just in proportion of the equality of women with 
men in the enjoyment of social and civil rights and privileges, both sexes 
are advanced in refinement and all that ennobles human nature. 



504 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

In our owncountrj', where women are received on an equality with men, 
^ve find good manners and good order prevailing. Because women fre- 
quent railroad cars and steamboats, markets, shops and postoffices, those 
places must be and are conducted with order and decency. The only great 
resorts from which woman is excluded by law are the election places, and 
the violence, rowdyism, profanity and obscenity of the gatherings there in 
our largest cities are sutlicient to drive decent men even away from the 
polls. * * * I have more faith in female suffrage to reform the abuses 
of our election system in the hirge cities than I have in the penal election 
laws to be enforced by soldiers and marines. 

THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT. 

Carpenter's several reports on the petitions and demands 
of women for the privileges of suffrage throughout the 
Union are interesting. He had under consideration, in Jan- 
uary, 1872, " the memorial of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Isa- 
bella Beecher Hooker, Elizabeth S. Bladen, Olympia Brown, 
Susan B. Anthony and Josephine J. Grilling, citizens of the 
United States, praying for the enactment of a law, during 
the current session of congress, to assist and protect them in 
the exercise of their right, and the right of all women, to 
participate in the elective franchise, which the memorialists 
claim they are entitled to under the constitution of the 
United States, together with various other petitions and 
memorials to the same effect, and various protests in oppo- 
sition thereto." 

He reported that he had not discussed the broad principle 
as to whether the federal constitution should be so amended 
as to give all female citizens the right of suffrage, but that 
the fourteenth amendment "must be rejjarded as reco2"nizin£r 
the right of every state und^r the constitution, as it previously 
stood, to deny or abridge the right of a citizen to vote on 
any account, in the pleasure of such state; and by the fif- 
teenth amendment the right of states in this respect is only 
so far restricted that no state can base such exclusion upon 
' race, color, or previous condition of servitude.* With this 
single exception — race, color, and previous condition of serv- 
itude — the power of a state to make such exclusion is left 



SUSAN B. ANTHONY ARRESTED. 505 

untouched, and, indeed, is actually recognized by the fifteenth 
amendment as existing." Which means that every state is 
left free to admit or exclude women from the privileges of 
voting:. 

SUSAN B. ANTHONY ARRESTED. 

At the presidential election of 1872 Susan B. Anthony 
asked, as a citizen of the United States and an inhabitant of 
Rochester, New York, to have her name registered. She 
was accordingly registered, and on election day was per- 
mitted to deposit her ballot with other citizens. Immediately 
afterward she was indicted by the grand jury for having 
" knowingly voted without having a lawful right to vote." 
She had a trial, technically, before a jury (as the law directs) 
and Ward Hunt, associate justice of the United States su- 
preme court; but the judge refused to submit the case to the 
jury in any form and directed a verdict of guilty. She was 
fined $100 and costs, and thereupon petitioned congress to 
remit the punishment. 

The majority report of the senate committee was that 
congress had no power to remit the fine, but Carpenter sub- 
mitted (January 20, 1874) ^^^ "views" of the minority, in 
which, by numerous authorities, he showed that Justice Hunt 
had no rightful power to suspend the prerogatives of a jury 
in a criminal case and compel a verdict of guilty. He said: 

Unfortunately the United States have no '■'■ luell-ordered system of juris- 
frudence.''^ A citizen may be tried, condemned and put to death by the 
erroneous judgment of a single inferior judge, and no court can grant 
him relief or a new trial. If a citizen have a cause involving the title to 
his farm, if it exceed $2,000 1 in value, he may bring his case to the 
supreme court; but if it involves his liberty or his life he can not. While 
we permit this blemish to exist on our judicial system, it behooves us to 
watch carefully the judgments inferior courts may render; and it is doubly 
important that we should see to it that twelve jurors shall concur with 
the judge before a citizen shall be hanged, incarcerated, or otherwise 
punished. 

I concur with the majority of the committee that congress can not 
grant the precise relief prayed for in the memorial ; but I deem it to be 

1 Since increased to $5,000. 



5o6 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

the duty of congress to declare its disapproval of the doctrine asserted, 
and the course pursued, in the trial of Miss Anthony ; and all the more for 
the reason that no judicial court has jurisdiction to review the proceedings 
therein. 

He thus rebuked the court and the senate : 

It is fashionable, we know, just now, to heap contumely upon women 
who demand to be allowed to enjoy their civil political rights. Ridicule is 
the chief weapon employed against them, and is freely applied to all who 
advocate their cause. Gentlemen who would blusli to be thought negli- 
gent in the offices of frivolous gallantry lack the manhood to accord to 
women their substantial rights. And, strange to say, ladies, dwelling in 
luxurious ease, join with the fops of society to cast contempt upon the 
earnest aspirations of woman for the possession of her just rights. We 
have acted upon the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence, so far as 
to make all 7nen equal before the law; but women, our mothers, our wives, 
our sisters, and our daughters, we condemn to inequality — many to servi- 
tude. But the cry of women, who, in poverty and want, are driven from 
the employments of honest industry to indulgence in vice and to the haunts 
of shame, is rising on every hand, and appeals to the heart with as much 
power as the wailings of a slave beneath the lash of his master. 

The wrongs of Martin Koszta in a foreign land touched the heart of the 
nation. But the denial of her rights to Miss Susan B. Anthony in a court 
of the Union is thought to be unworthy the attention of the American 
senate. 

To those who are indifferent whether a woman be deprived of, or be per- 
mitted to enjoy, even* the rights which are secured to her by the constitu- 
tion, it may be suggested that a bad precedent set in the trial of a woman 
who has presumed to express her choice as to those who should make laws 
for her, laws by which her rights are to be affected and ner property be 
taxed, may stand in the way of some fiiati's rights hereafter. It may yet 
happen, in the revolutions of time, that some one of the majority of your 
committee may be subjected to an unjust and false accusation, which must 
be submitted to the judgment of twelve men in the jury-box or of one man 
on the bench; twelve men fresh from the people and warmed with the in- 
stinctive sympathies of humanity, or one man, separated from the people 
bv his station and by the habits of a life passed in seclusion and study. A 
jury-trial must be the same whether a man or a woman be arraigned. And 
the subject under consideration is important even to men, who are regard- 
less of the rights of women. 

A PLEA IN THE SENATE. 
In 1874, enuring the pendency in congress of a bill to create 
out of the territory of Dakota the territory of Pembina, while 



GOD S GREAT CONGREGATION. 507 

discussing the qualifications of citizenship for the proposed 
new division, Carpenter said: 

Mr. President, as the yeas and nays have been ordered on this question, 
and I shall vote for this amendment, without going into any argument of 
the general question, I desire to say one word as to the reason why I shall 
so vote. 

I believe it is not one of woman's rights, but it is one of man's, that the 
franchise should be extended to women. I believe there is no situation in 
which man can be placed where the aid of woman is not beneficial ; that in 
all the relations of life, in all the occupations and all the duties of life, it 
was the intention of God, in creating the race, that woman should be the 
helpmeet of man, everywhere and in all circumstances and occupations. 
Look through your country, look in your railroad cars, look in your post- 
offices, look in your dry-goods stores, and there you see everything decent 
and orderly and quiet. Why.? Because women go there. The only place 
in this country from which they are excluded by law is the voting place, 
and in many of our large cities those places are the most disgraceful that 
can be found under our institutions. Now, I believe, if the elections were 
open to women as well as men, there would be as much order, quiet and 
decency at the voting places as there is in a railroad car, and for precisely 
the same reason. If our wives and mothers and daughters were going to 
these election places, there would be order and decency there, or there 
would be a row once for all that would make them decent. I have more 
confidence in the influence of women at the elections in New York city to 
reform the condition of things that exists there, and bring about decency 
and order at the elections and the prevention of violence and fraud, than I 
have in all the army and navy that the President can send under the elec- 
tion bill which was put through here by my honorable friend from New 
York [Mr. Conkling]. 

Without enlarging on the subject, I shall vote for this amendment, not 
because this territory is located, as some senator has said, near Minnesota. 
I would vote for female suffi-age in the District of Columbia, to-morrow; I 
would vote for it in the state of Wisconsin; I would vote for it anywhere 
and everywhere, if I had an opportunity to do so. 

GOD'S GREAT CONGREGATION. 

It is difficult to satisfactorily account for the admiration and 
love of the Irish everywhere for Carpenter, and their enthusi- 
astic allegiance to his political fortunes. They believed he 
was poor — that created a bond of sympathy; they knew he 
was an orator — that carried them wherever he went. Ora- 



508 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

tory and poverty are to the Irishman what music and maca- 
roni are to the Italian. 

In early years he was a democrat, and as such, during polit- 
ical campaigns, came in frequent contact with the Irish, who 
are nearly all democrats. Having thus become acquainted 
with him, they went from far and near to secure his services 
and advice in their petty troubles and litigations. He never 
failed to respond, though he often failed to receive a fee. But 
this was not considered — he continued to keep them all for 
his clients, and thus became very popular throughout Rock 
county with that nationality. Years after, when he was a 
senator, a load of Rock county Irish farmers drove, in har- 
vest time, a distance of twenty-five miles to hear him make 
a political speech. When they arrived at the place the hour 
was late and the room was full to overflowing. But the 
I'olly Irishmen had driven too far to be thwarted by ordinary 
means, so they climbed up the outside to the windows. 
There they sat and listened, like quails on a fence, cheering 
all his eloquent passages, though the speech was republican 
and they were democrats. 

This early love spread to all portions of the state, and 
became more strong and prominent in Milwaukee than any- 
where else. When riding in his carriage with distinguished 
guests or the members of his family, he would always greet, 
in a frank and hearty manner, or, if occasion required, stop 
and speak with the commonest clod-hopper in the city. He 
was, therefore, among the Irish, the best-known and most 
popular man in the community. They all knew him and 
spoke of him as " Matt." 

In 1874, when the election that was to send him or his suc- 
cessor to the United States senate was held, the Third ward 
of Milwaukee, generally safe for from three hundred and 
fifty to six hundred majority, gave Kershaw, the republican 
legislative candidate, over four hundred majority because he 
was " a Carpenter man." Although Carpenter was defeated, 
when he returned to Milwaukee the Irish turned out en masse 



god's great congregation. 509 

to express their sympathy and indignation, and in his speech 

in the Academy of Music he said: 

One thing is so specially gratifying to me that I must make particular 
mention of it. The Third ward of Milwaukee, which is good for five hun- 
dred democratic majority under ordinary circumstances, last fall elected 
Colonel Kershaw, one of my republican friends, by over four hundred ma- 
jority. I must be dead indeed to every impulse of gratitude and every 
sentiment of manhood before I can forget my obligation to the Irishmen 
of Miliuaukee. We shall have no temptation to separate hereafter; there 
is one bond that will bind us forever together ; they and I belong to God's 
great congregation — the poor. And if, in the changing fortunes of the 
future, I should ever find it in my power to aid an Irishman, I will think 
of my obligations to the Third ward, and hasten to his relief 

In a similar speech at another time he alluded to one of his 
early experiences in Vermont. While trudging along a hot, 
dusty road, weary and foot-sore, he gave out and was com- 
pelled to sit down upon a bowlder by the roadside. Although 
a boy with a stout heart, his journey was long and he was 
almost discouraged. Several times he was refused a " lift '* 
by the drivers of passing vehicles. Finally a loud, cheery 
voice roused him from meditation, and a jolly Irishman took 
him in and drove him to his destination. " Ever since that 
day," said he, " I have had a warm corner in my heart for 
an Irishman."' 

At the primaries held for choosing delegates to the national 
convention of 1876, the Irish of several precincts adopted 
resolutions favoring the nomination of Carpenter for Presi- 
dent, and when, in 1878, he was again a candidate for the 
senate, the Irish rallied to his support and insured the election 
of Carpenter republicans in several democratic districts. 

In 1 88 1, after his death, when the citizens of Wisconsin 
proposed to erect a monument to his memory, an Irishman 
of the Third ward of Milwaukee was first to appear with a 
dollar in his calloused palm as his contribution to the memo- 
rial fund. 

1 His childhood love for Johnny Eagan may now be recalled. 



5IO LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



A MAN OF THE PEOPLE. 



Carpenter was pre-eminently a man of the people. He 
mingled freely and naturally with the multitude, and always 
taught that there could be no class-distinction in a republic 
save that of respectability. 

In all controversies between the people and the government, 
between the people and the aggressions of capital, monopoly 
or judicial usurpation, he invariably espoused the cause of 
the masses openly, boldly and effectively. This was not a 
matter of policy but of sincerity. He knew he was right, 
and he knew, too, that to espouse the right as against banded 
corporations would entail upon him heavy pecuniary loss; 
nevertheless the principle was announced and supported un- 
falteringly to fruition. 

Nobody loved better or often er sought the society of states- 
men, scholars, jurists and individuals of refinement; yet this 
love had no restraining influence whatever upon the perfect 
freedom of his intercourse with all classes. An old philoso- 
pher who had fondly watched Carpenter's upward course, 
bears witness: *'I have noticed for years that no matter how 
far forward he went in public esteem, or what prominence 
he gained, he retained his old manner of talking to old 
friends, and did not forget any, no matter how humble." 

No one ever entered Carp>enter's presence, no matter how 
trivial the errand upon which he came or how lowly his 
position, without being made at once to feel perfectly at home. 
His own business was laid aside as though an honor had 
been conferred upon him by the call, and for the time he 
placed himself at the service of the visitor, who at the close 
of the interview invariably left a firm, fast friend. 

He addressed all his intimate friends and acquaintances by 
their Christian names, and the}'^ in turn knew him, like all 
the world, as " Matt." Although his duties in the senate 
and his law practice in Washington for a dozen years pre- 



A MAN OF THE PEOPLE. 5II 

vented spending any large part of his time in Milwaukee, 
personal friendships were kept warm, and men who abhor 
politics were always ready to enter into campaigns for 
" Matt." In fact, the pohtical rallies in Milwaukee in his be- 
half were nothing: less than ovations. 

After every popular address he was in the habit of re- 
pairing to a public house, where, throwing open the doors, 
he received and shook hands with the people with a freedom 
and cordiality that to them was little short of fascinating. 

During his second senatorial campaign the managers of 
the Green county fair engaged Carpenter to deliver the an- 
nual address. Washburn was also a candidate for the sen- 
ate at that time, and his friends joined with the democracy 
in crying that the fair had been turned into a " Carpenter 
campaign-meeting." The clamor became so intense as to 
threaten the success of the fair, and when Carpenter ap- 
peared the address was begun without an audience worthy 
of mention. As he proceeded, however, listeners began to 
gather around him, and before the end, as the local journal 
declared, he " captured the crowd." 

But the people, turning their anger into enthusiasm, were 
not satisfied. They demanded he should give them a politi- 
cal address in the evening, which he did to an immense au- 
dience in Turner Hall, at Monroe. When he entered the 
place it was a " Washburn hot-bed," but he left it full of 
warm and steadfast personal and many political friends. 

Although long research had established his line of descent 
from an ancient and gentle English family, Carpenter never 
referred to his genealogy, and even refused to wear a beauti- 
ful ring on which was cut a signet of the Carpenter coat- 
armor, although the token had been presented by a near and 
dear friend. He despised all the artificial devices resorted 
to for the purpose of securing a false elevation " above the 
common herd " as evidences of shallowness and weakness. 
Whenever he observed the mere possessors of wealth 
flaunting the coat-armor of ancient nobility and estabhshing 



512 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

for themselves a vulgar pretense of aristocracy, he would 
gleefully quote: 

Of all the notable things on earth, ' 
The queerest one is pride of birth 

Among our ' fierce democracie.' 
A bridge across a hundred years, 
Without a prop to save it from sneers. 
Not even a couple of rotten peers — 
A thing for laughter, fleers and jeers, 

Is American aristocracy." 

Carpenter described Stephen A. Douglas as " a plebeian 
respectably born and an honored citizen of the United 
States — the noblest, proudest lord in Christendom." This 
description would have applied with equal aptness to himself. 
He was not decked with the gairish emblems of artificial 
distinction, but was a man of the people, who " received the 
patent of nobility direct from Almighty God" and his 
political elevation from the good will of the masses. 



USE AND LOVE OF BOOKS. 513 



CHAPTER XLV. 

USE AND LOVE OF BOOKS. 

It must have been observed, ere this, that Carpenter was 
a great lover of books. In the west no private library of 
miscellaneous books equaled his in extent and richness, and 
his law library was one of the best in the United States. It 
contained all the text-books, decisions and opinions that were 
written in the English language, all state trials, legislative, 
parliamentary and tribunal proceedings of the old world, 
and all arbitrations, treaties and agreements between nations. 

In the field of general literature he was equally compre- 
hensive, having upon his shelves the entire range of history, 
biographies of all the conspicuous characters of civilization, 
the standard works of science, philosophy, finance, poetry, fic- 
tion, travel, navigation, engineering, and hundreds of volumes 
of church history and theology. In addition he gathered, 
read and preserved briefs, magazines, newspapers and pam- 
phlets without number. In this direction may be mentioned 
his rare and complete collection of all the briefs, arguments, 
etc., presented to the attention of the United States supreme 
court since its organization. These were bound, and as the 
only other similar collection extant belonged to the Philadel- 
phia Law Library, were considered so valuable that after 
his death congress set aside $8,000 for their purchase as an 
addition to the congressional library. 

In connection with the books he possessed it is proper to 
refer to the use he made of them. He studied the history of 
civilized nations and of their assemblies and courts to see by 
what steps they advanced in enlightenment, power and hap- 
piness, in order to formulate the wisest policies for America; 
he examined the decisions of the world's courts in order to 
discover the purest principles of equity and justice ; he wan- 
33 



514 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

toned in all the fields of general literature in order to enrich 
his mind, purify his language and adorn his oratory. 

For general purposes his favorite volumes were Shakes- 
peare and the Bible, which, he said, were all the library a 
man needed. These he read incessantly. Although he 
could repeat many of Shakespeare's plays from beginning 
to end, transforming his tone, facial expression, accent, gest- 
ure and spirit to fit each change of character, he did not draw 
so freely from that source for his public speeches as from the 
Bible. He read the niN'riad-minded bard for his subtle phi- 
losophy of human nature and common life, but the masses 
did not so fully appreciate that as they did the simple grandeur 
of the New Testament epics. He held that the writings 
attributed to Shakespeare were not his unaided productions; 
yet curiously enough, Stratford, next to the Holy Land, was a 
place he always longed to visit. 

As has been stated, much good literature became firmly 
fixed in Carpenter's mind during the period of his blindness; 
but he never prepared an address, and not often a legal argu- 
ment, without reference to the domains of fancy, philosophy 
and religion for apt illustrations, strong expressions and con- 
firmatory conclusions. Not only this, but at social gatherings, 
in his hours of recreation and for the amusement of his friends 
he read from all the poets. On such occasions his frequent habit 
was to take the book in hand and walk up and down the room 
in order to rouse his sympathies to the text, facilitate gesture 
and heighten tlie general eflect. Upon this point one of his 
early law-students is corroborative: 

The most interesting experiences I can recall — and I am sure I shall 
never forget them — were those where, when he was in the mood, he would 
walk the floor and recite with a feeling and expression beyond comparison 
from some of the English poets, or when visited bv some brother senator 
or legal acquaintance of note he would engage in friendly discussion upon 
some national or legal question until his convictions and his earnestness 
would carry him headlong into the most eloquent and pleading style of 
speech. 



LOVE OF CHILDREN. 515 

At home it was a very common habit with Carpenter to 
read aloud to his wife and children from the poets or the 
Bible. Sometimes, in that semi-dishabille which granted 
the freedom he loved so well, he would stretch himself upon 
the sofa or carpet, and in that position read for hours — the 
lesser passages to himself, but those which aptly expressed 
his own sentiments or met a quick response from the warm 
and generous depths of his heart, he uttered aloud, fre- 
quently repeating them several times as if to drink in their 
full meaning and fix the words indelibly upon his memory. 

On some occasions, when working in his library until far 
into the night, after the entire household had retired to rest, 
he would lay aside his labors and begin reading aloud from 
a favorite volume, with no listeners but the walls of books 
that surrounded him. Frequently, at such times, as he fell 
upon passages of unusual strength or beauty, he would 
mount the stairs, and sitting by the bedside of his wife, read 
them to her with high dramatic power and unalloyed enjoy- 
ment. Many a time has she been roused from peaceful 
slumber to hear her husband recite a favorite chapter from 
the Bible or choice passages of literature. 

Jonas M. Bundy, heretofore quoted, has written: 

His liberal book-buying, which some people afterward regarded rather as 
a piece of extravagance than dictated by real necessity, I knew grew out of 
his habits of study, his demand for the exact significance of words, his de- 
sire to extend his knowledge of all the forms of expression that were created 
by the first order of poetic, philosophic or analytic ability. No man whom 
I have known laid the foundations of future power and broad work 
more thoroughly, honestly or deeply than Carpenter. He never was satis- 
fied with any class of authorities or chain of argument unless he felt sure 
of the utmost attainable capacity of demonstration. He was, all his life, 
one of the most exact, painfully critical, keenly intuitional students of 
words and their meanings that I ever knew in the legal or in any other 
profession. 

LOVE OF CHILDREN. 

Carpenter's love of children was phenomenal. He was 
not simply passionately fond of his own, but he loved them 
all and made friends with them all. One of his admirers has 



5l6 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

said lliat, if it were not known that the great Teacher of 
Nazareth promulgated, " Suffer little children to come unto 
me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of 
Heaven," it might not be unnatural for those who knew him 
to believe Carpenter was the author of that sublime injunction. 

Every parent has more or less love for his offspring, but 
when a great mind, perplexed with the questions of the day 
and busy with the duties of public life, is attracted by every 
child that crosses his path, it is a fact worthy of some remark. 

Once, as he lay dozing in his library, suddenly, as though 
the house were on fire, Carpenter sprung from his couch 
and rushed up stairs to the nurser}'. When he returned, a 
member of the household asked what had happened and he 
replied that he " thought he heard Paul cry." He could 
soothe his children to rest or sleep under any and all circum- 
stances, when everybody else had failed. Nature seemed to 
have endowed him with an instinct that knew just how to 
touch and handle a child, for the most restless and tempestu- 
ous youngster, in a few moments after he began to croon 
the little song of his own which he sang to every babe, set- 
tled into peace and quiet. 

Many a time, while riding on the cars, he has taken a fret- 
ting child from the arms of its mother, and, after walking a 
few times up and down the aisle of the coach, carried the 
little one back hushed and asleep, receiving the blessings of 
the passengers. After 1865, he traveled a great deal be- 
tween the east and the west, and instances of this kind were 
repeated at almost every journey; but it was only now and 
then, when there chanced to be some one on board who 
recognized the distinguished public nurse, that the tired 
mother, rested from her burden, or the grateful travelers, 
knew who had exercised such a magic spell over the crying 
babe. Here is a letter to Walter S. Carter, of New York: 

United States Senate Chamber, 

Washington, June 30, 1872. 
Dear Carter: — While coming down on the cars the other day, or 
evening, when it came time to make up bertha in the sleeping-car, a gen- 



LOVE OF CHILDREN. 51^ 

tieman, two ladies and a small girl came and sat in my section while theirs 
was being put in order. The little girl was very tired and sleepy. She 
sort 'o took to me, as all the children do; so I told her to lie down in my 
arms and go to sleep, which she did with seeming gratefulness. We rode 
in that way some twenty miles. When they were ready to go to bed, they 
aroused the little girl, and told her to thank me and bid me good night, 
whereupon I gave her my card. They all then went to their section, but 
presently returned, having read my card, and asked if I was "Senator Car- 
penter." I admitted it. Did I know Mr. Walter S. Carter.? I admitted 
that also. Then they told me it was your little girl I had been holding. 

Yours, Matt. 

In several cases like this, as he afterwards learned, he fell 
in with some of the most distinguished families in the land, 
beginning friendships through a child which lasted to the end 
of life ; but generally his kindness was toward some humble 
woman, traveling unattended with her burdens and her chil- 
dren, thus making his attentions thrice grateful, though she 
could never learn who had befriended her. 

On the streets and moving about the city Carpenter was 
the same. If he overtook a child, he would reach down and 
clasp it by the hand, leading it as far as their journeys were 
common, and always gaining its confidence and friendship. 
He frequently — in fact times without number — led ragged 
little urchins to a neighboring store and purchased a hat to 
replace the tattered affair the youngster was wearing, or a 
new handkerchief, or new shoes and stockings, or any article 
that seemed to be most needed. Thus has he sent home 
hundreds of poor lads rejoicing and wondering who the big 
man was that had been so kind to them. In such manner 
nearly all the youngsters in Milwaukee came to know Car- 
penter, and they agreed among themselves that when they 
should become men they would vote for him for President or 
whatever he desired to be. 

A gentleman who once went to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 
with Carpenter, to try a case before the courts, relates an in- 
cident. They lodged at a hotel in which all were strangers 
to them. At about midnight a babe began to cry as though in 



5l8 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

great suffering. Carpenter arose from his bed instantly, and 
after listening a few moments to the cry of distress, and no- 
ticing that it did not diminish, dressed himself and proceeded 
into the hall. Near by he found an open door and a tired 
nurse attempting to quiet a still more tired child, which was 
waiting for its mother to return from a social gathering. He 
took the babe in his arms, sent the maid below for food, and 
began walking back and forth in the hali, singing his old 
song. When the mother returned, which was within half 
an hour, he had fed the babe, which was hungry as well as 
weary, and soothed it to sleep. She thanked him very gra- 
ciously for the novel kindness, and spent a large portion of 
the following day in discovering who he was. 

As to his own children (Lilian and Paul D.) he not only 
loved them with passionate tenderness, but was proud of 
them, and had great pleasure in their mental and ph3^sical ad- 
vancement. During his numerous and lengthened absences 
from home, in the senate or before the courts, he never failed 
to write frequently to them, from their earliest childhood. 
The babes could not read, to be sure, but their mother could, 
and the letters were their own " to keep." At first Lilian 
and Paul transmitted to him some extraordinary epistles, 
consisting of very bewildering, harum-scarum dashes and 
scrawls which were supposed to mean, " Dear papa: I love 
you. Please come home." Next they could " print " a few 
words intelligibly, and finally were able to maintain cor- 
respondence in due form. Carpenter gleefully answered all 
their missives, whether or not he could read them, and both 
children have sacredly stowed away hundreds of precious 
letters from their father, extending back to their babyhood 
days. One of them shall be inserted here for the purpose of 
showing a facsimile of his every-day chirography. The 
" Doctor " referred to in the letter was a cat presented by 
and named after Dr. J. K. Bartlett, of Milwaukee. 



^ /t^te^^tx/' /^A/f ^ ^l/t^fpc^^ /t^4^^^ J^/^c^ /t/i'^ 
i^ QPuf /c^ fk^ -^t^^e^^ l^y^^f'U/ ^^ y^C^^e^ y lu^^ 



'h^i^^-y< /Lf TH^L^cc^^ r £i/iun^^ '£^9^*^ t'&z^^ A^^u^-aO 

\ 

^^i^ /^ KU-d^lf^ /^H^^i^^-e^ ^V^r.^^'^J^^^ 
-V*^^ ^^jff-Zuu O-UTpO 



MORAL COURAGE. 



MORAL COURAGE. 



521 



One particular element of Carpenter's make-up was his 
bold frankness. He never skulked or retreated; never 
denied responsibility for anything rightfully belonging to 
him, no matter how odious it appeared to the people; never 
shirked an unpleasant duty; never hesitated to brave popular 
clamor if he thought his cause just. In America nothing 
arouses the enthusiasm of the realm more than an unflinch- 
ing exhibition of moral courage; hence Carpenter's friends 
were always proud of him, his enemies always admired and 
feared him, though they might not indorse his sayings and 
doings. 

He fought openly; joining enemies when they were in the 
right and admonishing friends when he thought they were 
in the wrong. He was not a student or disciple of policy, 
but moved forward according to his knowledge and his 
understanding. This often led him into counter-currents 
and out of his party lines, but it gave him a solid reputation 
for independence of thought and honesty of conviction that 
could not be attacked. When an infectious malaria per- 
vaded the public air, striking down whomsoever high and 
honorable it touched. Carpenter defied the scourge and ex- 
plained to the world that the Credit Mobilier was nothing to 
be feared, and was an imaginary monster that had in no man- 
ner whatever been an injury or loss to the government. 

He fearlessly stepped out of his party ranks and insisted 
that both the contending governments in Louisiana in 1873 
were tainted with fraud and a new election should be or- 
dered by congress as the only fair means of settling the 
most vexed and dangerous state complication that had ever 
arisen in the Union. Although, in response to the general 
demand, he voted to repeal the pack-pay law, he was the 
only man in the United States who had the moral courage 
to appear before an angry and impatient public in defense 
of his vote to increase the pay of congressmen and to 



522 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

establish the rectitude of his purpose and the justness of his 
premises. 

There are many — not men of small calibre either — who 
believed these acts wgx^ impolitic, absolute mistakes; but 
nobody denied him the rewards of unmixed moral courage. 
As to the speech in defense of his vote for increased pay, 
some thought and still think it was an unfortunate substitute 
for silence. Perhaps it was, for himself; but it. put upon 
record many important truths and historical facts that the 
public never would have known had his fearlessness of per- 
sonal consequences been as puny as that of his fellow-con- 
gressmen. Nevertheless, Carpenter did make mistakes. 
His vote against the confirmation of General Longstreet, 
when nominated by Grant for a public ofEce, made him ap- 
pear sectional, and was, perhaps, unwise; but whether his 
defense of Belknap and his argument for Tildcn were im- 
politic is a matter with which the public has no concern. 
They were, like other errors charged against him by his 
party, mere professional matters, to be wholly controlled as 
he saw fit. 

OFFICIAL INTEGRITY. 

Whatever else Carpenter's enemies had the hardihood to 
charge against him, they never could point to any act blem- 
ishing his public integrity.' He passed through the eventful 
period succeeding the war, when enormous claims were 
trooping about Washington in seductive search of those 
who would exchange votes for pelf, without taint. The 
Stygian stream of corruption often crept noisome and noxious 
past his door, but found no secret entrance. A single in- 
stance, related by a former law partner, will illustrate the 
entire subject: 

While sitting with him in his priv.ite office in Washington one morning 
before tlie senate convened, a gentleman walked in, and, handing his card 
to Carpenter, stated that he wished to retain him in a case then pending in 
the supreme court, and laying down a $5,ooo-check, payable to Carpenter'-; 
order, remarked that on the following Wednesday he would call and yny 



A POWERFUL MEMORY. 523 

him another $5,000. He casually observed that two other eminent law- 
yers, whom he named, would argue the case, and that Carpenter would not 
need to participate in the argument. The last remark attracted Carpen- 
ter's attention, and he requested the gentleman to take his $5,ooo-check 
with him; and if he concluded to accept a retainer, the whole could be 
paid at the next call. The next week the gentleman returned with a check 
for $io,ooo. But in the meantime it had been ascertained that the prof- 
fered client had a claim for $398,000 against the government then pending 
before the senate and referred to the judiciary committee of that body, and 
then referred to a sub-committee, of which Carpenter was chairman. The 
result was that the retainer was declined, with a sharp lecture upon the 
subject of retaining lawyers and paying them large fees for doing nothing. 
Subsequently the claim of this gentleman was investigated in committee, 
and Carpenter made a report against the bill, which was defeated in the 
senate. 

A POWERFUL MEMORY. 

Nature gave originally to Carpenter a memory of peculiar 
grasp and tenacity. Tliis rare gift he cultivated as much as 
any other that distinguished him, and thus made it a prominent 
characteristic. He rarely committed his popular or other 
speeches to writing, but revolved the subjects upon which he 
proposed to speak in his mind, arranging them in an orderly 
manner according to force and importance. Thus prepared, 
he never stumbled, repeated or forgot, or reversed the order 
of the subjects. In reading he trained his memory in a simi- 
lar manner. He made use of no scrap or note books, but, 
after perusing a theme, halted to digest the important points 
of it and ruminate upon facts and expressions. Sometimes, 
in fact, entire passages, pages or poems were committed to 
memory verbatim before going further, and thus he not only 
strengthened his mind but crowded its store-house with the 
rarest gems of literature and the most important facts and 
events of history. His mind in this respect resembled the 
ocean, toward which all streams, great and small, are ever 
flowing. 

The marvelous power of his memory to grasp, like an 
octopus, whatever it would, was amply illustrated, when, in 
1866, the notable speech upon reconstruction and Negro 



524 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

suffrage made at the Janesville banquet to General Wm. T. 
Sherman, not being written, was, upon request, recalled three 
days later for publication, perfect in sentiment, fact, argument 
and form. 

But it was more astonishmgly illustrated at New Orleans 
in 1873, '^^'^"'C'^ ^ speech of great eloquence and power upon 
the Louisiana election imbroglio, which occupied over two 
hours in delivery, was, after his ardor had cooled and the in- 
spiriting circumstances of the occasion had entirely passed 
away, recalled ' for a phonographic reporter without the loss 
of a premise, conclusion or illustration. 

The power to memorize reached back to Carpenter's early 
childhood. He could commit weekly entire chapters of the 
Bible to be repeated in Sunday school, and learn declamations 
without apparent effort. His greatest exploit in this direc- 
tion — referred to fully in the account of his childhood — was 
committing to memory in two weeks Webster's reply to 
Hayne, keeping up the regular studies of his classes at the 
same time. 

In debates Carpenter could recall all the points he desired 
to controvert, and during his entire congressional career never 
misquoted his opponents, no matter how many days had 
elapsed between their utterances and his replies. 

In the law his memory served him with equal fullness and 
accuracy. He could at any time, without reference to books, 

1 Win. P. Kellogg has thus decribed tlic circumstances :"The leading news- 
papers had arranged to lay before their readers a verbatim report <}f" the ora- 
tion, and the audience, as well as hundreds who had been imable to obtain 
admission, looked eagerly for a report of the address. It did not appear. 
From a partisan stand-pomt it was not what was expected or desired. The 
wish of the people to read what he had said was communicated to Carpenter, 
and a stenographer was placed at his disposal. He consented to attempt to 
reproduce the address. Rapidly pacing the lloor of his room, pausing every 
now and then to collect his thoughts and recall the surrounding incidents 
of the occasion, he dictated the sp.'cch, interruptions included, and it was 
published. Afterward the short-iiand notes of his address as actually de- 
livered were procured, and it was found that the two speeches, uttered three 
days apjirt, without the aid of note or memorandum, varied scarcely the 
turn of a sentence or the substitution of a word." 



A POWERFUL MEMORY. 525 

make a resume of the great decisions of Justices Marshall, 
Shaw and Parsons and of the late noted members of the 
United States supreme court. 

Many lawyers have a habit of quoting from memory — 
that is, without referring to the actual text and reading from 
it — the decisions of eminent judges in such a manner that 
they will sustain whichever side of the case they may be ad- 
vocating, let the perversion and contortion necessary to do so 
be never so violent. This could not be done in any cause 
upon which Carpenter was engaged, as he would at once 
detect the falsehood, and turning to the opinion pretended to 
be quoted, read it as it was, thus convicting his opponent of 
the grossest of those numerous dishonorable tricks resorted 
to by mere case-lawyers. 

The value of this faculty was manifest at a very early pe- 
riod of his professional career. In 1849, during his partial 
blindness, he was, with the aid of E. P. King, trying a case 
at Beloit, in which John M. Keep, subsequently circuit judge, 
was the opposing counsel. As the trial progressed Keep 
read to the court an authority which both astounded Car- 
penter and destroyed his case. Utterly dumbfounded at such 
a doctrine, and knowing he had never seen it in the books, 
he asked the justice for the usual adjournment, which was 
granted. 

Going with King direct to the office, he began a search 
for the revolutionary doctrines given to the court by Keep, 
and in course of time discovered they had been read, 
not from that opinion of the court which carried judgment, 
but from the dissenting opinion of an eccentric judge. The 
controlling opinion sustained Carpenter's views. Therefore, 
when he went into court to complete the trial, the deception 
Keep had attempted to practice on him, his client and the 
justice, was exposed, and Keep himself received a wordy 
castigation from the blind but triumphant attorney, as well as 
the emphatic sibilations of the spectators. Carpenter won 
the case. 



526 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Thus his power of memory served him in law, in equity, 
in debate, in public speaking, at the banquet, and in all so- 
cial gatherings — succored justice and enriched pleasures. 

A WONDERFUL VOICE. 

The English language furnishes no words with which to 
describe a beautiful sound. No pen, therefore, can fully set 
forth the charms of Carpenter's marvelous voice. Its range 
seemed to be even greater than that of his genius, and how- 
ever he used it — whether in exhortation, sledge-hammer 
argument, pleading, paying a tender tribute to the dead, or 
soothing a sorrowing child — there was no decrement of its 
singular dramatic power and sure effect. 

He possessed a soul of perpetual botidissemcnt and good 
humor, and his voice w^as hke it — always cheery, musical 
and winning. It was a welcome sound in every ear, and 
made life-long friends of some who never spoke to him until 
near the close of his career, and first then to confess they had 
been attracted by the music of his voice. 

It was said that Bishop Whitefield could compel his hear- 
ers to weep or laugh by the opposing intonations of his voice 
in uttering the word " Mesopotamia." Carpenter never at- 
tempted to confine his influence over an audience to the 
capabilities of his voice in uttering a single word; but his 
power over all, from the crying babe in its cradle to the 
aged listener to his strongest oratory, was not less remark- 
able than that of Bishop Whitefield. 

When he first entered the senate his face and form were 
not familiar to the galleries. On a certain occasion, the 
chamber had been packed by the announcement that a dis- 
tinguished senator would speak. When he had done, Car- 
penter rose. The great crowd did not know him, and 
commenced to pour out through the various entrances. He 
raised his voice, and swept the retreating throng with one or 
two of those beautiful gems with which he could always 
open a speech. The human stream halted, a moment was 



A WONDERFUL VOICE. 527 

given to listening, and a minute later all had returned to 
their seats, and the galleries became still and attentive. It 
was then that Schuyler Colfax, the Vice-President, said: 
" No mortal ever heard that wonderful voice and did not 
stop to listen." 

The charm which Carpenter's intonations possessed for 
children was, as we have seen, remarkable. He was never 
trained to sing, and probably never learned the words of a 
song; nevertheless, when a child could not be soothed by 
mother, nurse, or other person, he could take it, and, walk- 
ing back and forth, sing a low song of his own composition, 
and never fail to bring rest and quiet. 

In public speaking his voice was peculiarly attractive and 
musical in its natural, unrestrained flow. The late John W. 
Forney said it was " a sweet combination of the notes of the 
flute and the nightingale," and Morton McMichael wrote: 
"His voice was one of singular grandeur; gentle as the 
strain of an ^olian harp in pathetic pleading, ringing clear 
as a fire-bell in persuasive argument, or rolling in thunder 
tones in well-rounded periods of rhetoric when addressing 
the masses or in the arena of hot-tempered debate." 

Carpenter's laugh was more completely beyond descrip- 
tion than his voice in speaking. It was like the sunlight and 
the showers that freshen and gladden everything in nature 
without effort. It was clear, ringing, merry, magnetic and 
contagious. One of his partners, A. A. L. Smith, declared 
there was "nothing in the world like it — doors and walls 
could not confine it nor deprive it of the power to compel 
others to laugh with him." In 1859 a vivacious writer made 
a pen-picture of noted Milwaukee characters. It contains a 
description of Carpenter's laugh that is worth preserving: 

Stop, there comes some one up the path — a large man, with two books 
under his arm; his hat jauntily on the side of his head; his coat buttoned 
across his broad chest; his step elastic, with just the least bit of a swagger 
in it; his face decidedly good-looking, if not handsome; long, brown 
hair, inclined to be literary in its direction, but a little neglige in its man- 
agement. Do I know him.!" Don't you? There, the "fourth edition" 



528 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

has fallen asleep and rolled off the steps into the mud, and our legal friend, 
as he sees it, bursts into a laugh of the most p>eculiar and unmistakable 
character. It is the quintessence of cachinnation. I know not whether it 
sounds most like a baby's prattle or the pouring of champagne into a deep 
wine-glass, but I never heard another laugh like it Now you know who 
it is — Matt. H. Carpenter, of course. 

This good cheer of the voice was lost only in death, 
Carpenter's last words to his wife, shortly before passing to 
his final account, being uttered in the same cheery tones that 
through all his life had been the very stimulant of love and 
the soul. 

PECULIARITIES OF ORATORY. 

It is little enough to say that Carpenter was one of the 
most popular orators of his time. He was not so ponderous 
as Webster, not so classic as Everett, not so volatile and 
flowery as Sargeant Smith Prentiss, not so fiery as Henry 
Clay or E. D. Baker, yet he possessed such a degree of 
all these attributes, together with charms of voice and grace 
of manner purely his own, as to make friends of every audi- 
ence and carry his hearers whither he would. 

He did not render his utterances soggy by quotations from 
foreign tongues or by labored injection of words of remote, 
specific and uncommon meaning. Simplicity of language 
and lucidity of statement brought himself and his hearers 
into close and easy communion, and carried them through to 
the end delighted and refreshed. When a young and ambi- 
tious lawyer of Fond du Lac wrote him, asking how to 
become an orator, the reply was, " study only to be clear." 
Jeremiah S. Black, one of the kings of the forum, described 
Carpenter's oratory: 

He was gifted with an eloquence sui g^ciieris. It consisted of free and 
fearless thought wreaked upon expression powerful and perfect. He often 
warmed with feeling, but no bursts of passion deformed the symmetry of 
his argument. The flow of his speech was steady and strong as the cur- 
rent of a great river. Every sentence was perfect; every word was fitly 
spoken; each apple of gold was set in its picture of silver. This singular 
faculty of saying everything just as it ought to be said was not displayed 



PECULIARITIES OF ORATORY. 529 

only in the senate and in the courts; everywhere, in pubHc and private, on 
his legs, in his chair, and even lying on his bed, he always " talked like a 
book." 

Carpenter himself has left a description of oratory: 

There ara two classes, into one or other of which all great speeches 
fall. There is the analytical method, by which the whole is first resolved 
into its parts or elements, and the fragments are separately shown to the 
audience, and then put back into the construction of the whole, or the 
speaker's theory of the whole, one by one, as a mason lays brick upon 
brick in a wall. This is an appeal to pure reason and approaches a mathe- 
matical demonstration. It challenges examination of every element of a 
theory — it hands each brick over to be examined by the audience. When 
each has been weighed, tested, measured, fully known, then the construc- 
tion of the theory- wall commences; and having thus examined the mate- 
rial and witnessed the construction, the result stands forth, not a matter of 
belief, but of knowledge. No man can satisfy you that the brick wall, 
which you have thus followed in its construction from materials and ele- 
ments to the final result, is anything else than just what you have seen it 
and know it to be, unless he can first satisfy you that you are either crazy 
or a fool. 

The other, the rhetorical method, is exactly the reverse. The details ot a 
subject, the elements and processes of a theorj', are all concealed, and the 
speaker seeks to fascinate and mesmerize a congregation, lull their reason, 
arouse their feelings and emotions, and rush them pell-mell to the desired 
conclusion. Such a trip is sometimes very agreeable to the hearer. He 
listens, or thinks he does — rises and falls in cadence with the orator, is 
borne along in a gaudy chariot, carried by the power of impassioned elo- 
quence over all doubts, laughs at all difficulties, and when he is set down 
at a definite point, wonders first how he got there, and second, whether he 
is standing on clouds or the firm fixed earth. 

Both these methods have the same end in view; both aim to win assent 
to some proposition or theory. One satisfies, proves and convinces; the 
other amuses, cajoles and persuades. 

The former method was Carpenter's, and he describes it 
in the performances of his dear friend, Father Richmond: 

The first ten minutes of a sermon were occupied with short sentences; 
the foundations of his arguments were slowly and carefully laid, and the 
structure of his theory arose upon it as regularly, and stood as firmly and 
was as plainly seen, as a marble palace upon its foundations. The beauties 
of his sermons were beauties of proportion, symmetry, adaptation, not 
artificial ornaments and figures of speech. So that by the time he began 
34 



53© LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

to grow excited, when his eye began to blaze and his cheek to grow pale, 
when he began to roll the thunders and dart the lightnings of his genius, 
you had been prepared for it; he had raised you up, had made you ashamed 
of the littleness of this world, and, for the hour at least, had stilled its 
ambition, its jealousy, its animosities; he had magnetized and inspired you; 
and speaker and hearers seemed to rise together into a clearer air and a 
higher life. 

Thomas F. Bayard says the " easy flow, the careless grace 
and persuasiveness of Carpenter's methods and manner of 
reasoning, his felicity of diction and pleasant elocution, all 
combined to win assent, and render disagreement from his 
propositions a difficult task." With a popular audience, how- 
ever, his earnestness — for he believed what he said, or said 
what he believed — had an effect not less than that of any 
other attribute of his oratory. His general appearance, too, 
contributed materially to his success on the rostrum. 

Instead of assuming a frigid dignity and a lofty bearing 
which some have mistaken for greatness, he came among 
the people like sunshine after a shower — smiling, pleasant, 
frank and friendly — diffusing good nature wherever he 
went. In sultry weather on the stump, he frequently dis- 
carded his coat, entering upon the task as a farmer begins 
the harvest or fallow, free from cumbrous restraints. And 
there was a charm in his very manner of doing these things. 
He could, it has been aptly said, " take ofT his coat like a 
king." 

There never was a Wisconsin man who could stir en- 
thusiasm, call out audiences and leave behind such lasting 
effects as Carpenter. In congress he was called the most 
perfect orator of the senate, and before the United States 
supreme court was noted for the mellifluous beauty of his 
delivery. 

As a debater he was equal to every emergency, ready for 
any attack and able to parry almost any thrust. Nothing 
seemed to excite his anger and he never resented the anger 
of others. In fact, as attack grew more vehement, furious 
and spiteful, he became more good-humored and smiling. 



PECULIARITIES OF ORATORY. 53I 

Thus, with but the slightest forensic effort, he frequently 
came off victorious from the placid evenness of his temper 
alone. Anger he knew to be a dangerous and self-destruc- 
tive weapon in oratorical combats. In this respect Moore's 
scintillating tribute to Richard Brinsley Sheridan may be ap- 
plied to Carpenter: 

" Whose humor as gay as the fire-fly's light, 

Played round ev'ry subject, and shone as it played ; 
Whose wit, in the combat, as gentle as bright, 
Ne'er carried a heart-stain away on its blade." 

He ever could utter, upon occasion, many beautiful and 
touching sentiments. They gathered as much from his 
voice and pathos as from any form of construction ; so their 
loveliness and tenderness can not be reproduced in mere 
words. No one who has not sat beneath the influence of 
his eagle spirit and flute-like voice can appreciate his orator- 
ical powers. " Nature planted in his soul the genius of elo- 
quence," says Andrew J. Aikens, " and each listener is 
charmed with the music of his words as with a bubbling 
fountain amid the verdant hills of his native state." 

Carpenter's eloquence could be impassioned as well asi 
beautiful, as all know who passed through the trying and 
turbulent hours of the Rebellion. As the muezzin's thrilling 
cry called the faithful to prayer, so the clarion notes of his 
patriotism, like a voice from Sinai, rallied the people to valor 
for freedom and an undishonored Union. How, fired by his 
pleas, the fields, the shops, the factories and the schools 
poured out their hosts to crowd and strengthen the broken 
ranks of freedom! How the patriot citizens gathered at the 
polls to sustain a bleeding but glorious government! But he 
could be soft, soft as the touch of childhood, tender as the 
voice of love. 

" And when he spoke 
Sweet words like dropping honey he did shed; 
And 'twixt the pearls and rubies softly broke 
A silvery sound that heavenly music 
Seems to make." 



532 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER XLVL 

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. 

Few men possessed a more graceful figure than Carpenter, 
or one so certain to arrest the attention and command the ad- 
miration of every observer. As a child he was distinguished 
for extraordinary beauty. His skin was as fair as that of a 
girl, his hair soft and wavy, his cheeks and lips a rosy red, 
and his eyes, of a deep, clear, liquid blue, were large and ex- 
pressive. It was common to hear people exclaim that Merritt 
Carpenter was the most beautiful boy they had ever seen. 

When he arrived at Beloit, at the age of twenty-four, there 
was no more winning or attractive young man in the state 
of Wisconsin. His figure was tall, straight, well-proportioned 
and supple, surmounted by a large, shapely head that seemed 
invested with a nobleness not easy to describe yet always 
certain to be noticed and admired. Above all was a magnifi- 
cent crown of thick, slightly wavy brown hair, which, though 
quite unmanageable on account of a large " cow-lick," was 
nevertheless a decidedly marked and attractive feature of his 
tojit-ciiscmble. 

He always wore his hair rather long, which became, as he 
grew older, a more perfect adornment of his massive head 
and heavy stature, and gave to him that half-noble, half-dis- 
tinguished and withal picturesque appearance so pleasing to 
those who saw him in public debate or on the rostrum. As it 
began to grow gray its effect was still more striking, lending 
that leonine aspect which moved Geo. W. Peck, the humor- 
ous editor, to denominate him the "Young Lion of the West." 

Charles G. Williams, in his memorial address, said: " He 
did indeed, sir, walk with the port and majesty of a king." 
On the same occasion Geo. C. Hazelton said: 

He was a most attractive man in his physical development. Nature 
rarely fashions into manhood a form so perfect and a presence so command- 



PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. 533 

ing. It was my good fortune in boyhood days to look upon Mr. Webster 
and hear him address a popular audience in New England. His great utter- 
ances still echo in my ears, and his Godlike mien, in all its varied powers, 
still remains a bright picture on the walls of my memory. No man ever 
saw and heard Carpenter under like circumstances that did not retain the 
impression of his great presence for a life-time. I bear him in remem- 
brance as he appeared in the majesty and beauty of his manhood's strength, 
when his shoulders seemed broad and strong enough to bear the weight of 
nations, and " his look drew audience still as night or summer's noontide 
air." I bear him in remembrance as he came in the days of war from the 
forum of justice to the tribunes of the people 

" To speak the word 
Which wins the freedom of a land. 
And lift for human rights the sword 

That dropped from Hampden's dying hand." 

When Reverdy Johnson first saw Carpenter enter the 
chamber of the United States supreme court at Washington, 
with that peculiar stride, slightly tinged with military sharp- 
ness, yet overflowing with independence and self-conscious 
strength, he exclaimed: "There comes one of Nature's 
noblemen — a very lord ; you can feel the power of his pres- 
ence in the air." 

In the senate of the United States, his physical appearance 
attracted the attention of the galleries as soon as that of any 
other senator, Roscoe Conkling and Charles Sumner not ex- 
cepted, and his prominent figure brought to the lips of every 
stranger the involuntary inquiry, "Who is that gentleman?" 

He brought from West Point a semi-military air which a 
military man would not fail to recognize at once, but which 
he assumed naturally and unconsciously. It consisted in the 
measured regularity of his step and the half-dashing, non- 
chalant manner in which he wore his hat and coat, the latter 
always fastened tightly across his broad chest, whenever he 
appeared in public or upon the streets. 

His face, so rosy and fair in youth, grew broader and i 
heavier, and stronger in its betrayal of mental characteristics, 
as manhood advanced. In complete repose it was not par- 
ticularly striking, except for its evidences of latent power; but 



534 



LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



when lighted up by the play of all those passions and forces 
which constituted his prowess as an orator, it became a face 
whose unusual beauty, nobleness and clear reflections of gen- 
ius can neither be delineated nor forgotten. It was adorned 
with no beard except a moustache, which had a graceful 
droop, like that of an artist, save when trained, as it fre- 
quently was in later years, to stand out conspicuously mili- 
tairenient. 

There was a certain neglige about his dress and make-up 
that indicated greatness, pictured a man above the technical- 
ities and frivolities of a fop. This, together with his lordly 
conifortement^ his large head, his robust -physique^ and the 
military air of his coat, gave him a distinguished appearance, 
in every sense of the word, that was matched by hardly one 
of his contemporaries at the bar, in the senate, or on the 
rostrum. 

Sometimes, in his most playful moods, when there seemed 
actually to be no limit to his mirth and wit, when he turned 
popular audiences into tempests of laughter, warmed the 
august solemnity of the supreme court into the smiles of 
comfortable good humor, or in the senate played like a very 
necromancicn upon the foibles, deflections and inconsistencies 
of his opponents, carrying destruction and disaster in the 
brilliant stream of his rancorless vivacity, he would stand mo- 
tionless upon the floor, with both hands easil)'' thrust into his 
pantaloons pockets. There was no other man in the United 
States senate who could assume that attitude without ap- 
pearing provincial. With Carpenter, however, it seemed to 
add a rich flavor of fun and waggery to his humor. 

He was no dissembler, took on no cloak of austerity or 
dignity, nor attempted to force the public to believe he was 
profoundly wise by going about wrapped in the owl-like 
plumage of solemn silence and dismal gravity which so often 
pass for statesmanship and wisdom. Thus, assuming noth- 
ing, doing all things in the perfection of natural simplicity, 
the very absence of those tricks in him whose presence in 



PORTRAITS. 535 

Others allowed them to seem great, proved clearly to all the 
world that Carpenter was indeed great. 

During the last two years of his life Carpenter's physical 
appearance, through intense pain, suffered a complete, and to 
those not permitted to observe the gradual transformation, a 
startling change. His hair and moustache grew silvery white, 
his weight was greatly reduced, and his face assumed that 
waxy, translucent semblance which struck sadness to every 
heart, and contrasted as strongly as sunlight and darkness 
with that rich glow and sturdy outline so remarked and ad- 
mired in former days. 

PORTRAITS. 

Eccentricity was not an attribute of Carpenter's character. 
He had likes and dislikes, however, and one of them was 
the interest he took in sitting for photographs and portraits. 
Nevertheless, among the hundreds of his pictures extant, 
there is hardly one that is a creditable likeness of him, owing 
to the extraordinary mobility of his face. 

In April, 1858, Samuel M. Brookes, of California, had a 
studio in Milwaukee, next to the office of E. G. Ryan. Early 
in that month Ryan said to Brookes that Carpenter desired 
good portraits of his wife and baby, at the same time advis- 
ing him to go to Beloit and receive the commissions. " And 
by all means," said Ryan, " paint Matt, life-size and hand- 
some as he is." Acting upon this advice Brookes went to 
Beloit and painted Carpenter, who gave several sittings at 
his room in the hotel, and watched the progress of the work 
with peculiar interest. That portrait, which was pronounced 
a good and life-like representation, is preserved by the family. 
It shows him with beard upon his chin. 

During the Rebellion Fred. S. Perkins, of Burlington, 
Wisconsin, painted a vivacious and dashing portrait of Car- 
penter that was very popular. It clearly and strongly sets 
forth the knight he was in those perfect days of physical and 
mental prowess. 

In repose the face of Carpenter was rather sad. In 1879 



53^ LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

he sat for a portrait in oil to F. A. Lydston, of Milwaukee. 
The artist encountered considerable dilFiculty in catching the 
proper expression, and, to use his own words, " found him- 
self, despite all efforts, turns and tricks, making a sleepy 
senator." He then related an incident in the career of a 
well-known artist of other days who had a sitting from a 
distinguished official in Washington. As the painting pro- 
gressed the official dozed off into a sound slumber. The 
artist, at once a man of genius and conviviality, took advan- 
tage of his patron's nap to go out and exhilarate his spirits. 
The exhilaration proceeded to such a degree that the painter 
was unable to return, and the sitter was compelled to pass 
the night amidst the paints, oils, old skulls and bric-a-brac 
of the studio. The story had the desired effect. Carpenter 
began a series of anecdotes, his face lighted up, and the 
artist secured a satisfactory expression. This portrait, for 
which Carpenter sat three times, is the possession of Emil 
Durr, a Milwaukee lumber merchant. 

In 1 88 1, after the death of Carpenter, the legislature of 
Wisconsin adopted a resolution authorizing Governor Wm. 
E. Smith to have made and framed a life-size portrait of 
him for the gallery of the Wisconsin State Historical So- 
ciety. The commission was given to Fred. A. McEntee, an 
artist of Wisconsin, and the portrait occupies a conspicuous 
place in the state capitol. 

Mrs. Adele Fassett executed a life-size crayon portrait of 
Carpenter during the last weeks of his life. It is one of the 
best ever made of him. The frontispiece of this volume is 
taken from that portrait, and pictures him just as he was 
in December, 1880, two months before death. It sets forth 
better than any other representation the fine shape and pre- 
dominating intellectuality of his great head. 

CHARITY. 

Carpenter's charities were as boundless as his opportu- 
nities for their bestowal. No single person can relate them. 



CHARITY. 537 

They were not spasmodic, not exclusive; but cosmopolitan 
and continuous. At the death of Henry J. Raymond, it was 
said that " the dews of charity which he had been sending 
all over the land, for twenty years, had risen in a cloud, 
which settled over his grave and poured itself out upon the 
canonized tenant." If all the children of poverty whose pil- 
lows have been softened, hearts gladdened and sufferings 
relieved by the showers of Carpenter's mercy were to 
gather with garlands about his grave, it would be such a 
demonstration as mortal eye hath not yet looked upon. 

The portion of the Bible which he always obeyed was 
that enjoining charity to the poor which are always with us, 
for " whoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones 
a cup of cold water only, * * * he shall in no wise lose 
his reward." But his gifts were not the part of a mere out- 
ward programme, to be seen of men. He obeyed rather 
the Scriptural injunction, "Let not thy right hand know 
what thy left hand doeth." He gave because it was one of 
the sweetest comforts of his life — the spirit of his religion. 
The mere bestowal of material aid, however, was but a 
small portion of his bounties. He halted at every plaint of 
woe, listened to every recital of misfortune, and delivered, 
with the golden trophies of his purse, the sympathy of his 
tender heart, the hope of his buoyant soul. Often and often 
has he been seen to stop in the midst of engrossing profes- 
sional labors to take in his the uncleansed hand of a beggar 
child, while listening to a story of sorrow; then bestowing 
words of hope for the future and a crisp bank bill for the 
present, dash a tear from his eyes and plunge again into the 
intricacies of his task. 

One of his former law partners relates: 

Frequently I have known him to give a common beggar a five-dollar 
bill. When I suggested to him that the person upon whom he was about 
to bestow his liberal charity was a notorious beggar and well known in 
Milwaukee, his only reply was : " Well, he does not look as though his 
begging had been very successful." And he gave the fellow a couple of 
bank bills from his pocket. 



538 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

As we have seen, the Irish and the colored people every- 
where loved Carpenter. It was because he was as generous 
to them with kind words as with his dollars. A Negro 
hack-driver in Washington was engaged by him to give a 
pleasure drive to some visitors from the west. At the end of 
the service he handed out a ten-dollar bill and departed with- 
out waiting for his " change." On the day following the 
driver went to Carpenter's office to return his balance of the 
ten dollars. Carpenter was busy. Glancing up he recog- 
nized the driver, and, saying half-apologetically, " Well, well ; 
did I forget to pay you yesterday ? " handed out another ten- 
dollar bill. 

One chilly November evening Carpenter and several dis- 
tinguished friends were talking upon the balcony of his 
favorite Washington hotel, when directly under them a 
beggar girl and her mother halted to ask alms. The sweet 
voice of the child broke forth in the plaintive melody, 

" Out in the cold world, out in the street, 
Asking a penny of each one I meet." 

Turning abruptly from the conversation of his companions, 
he leaned upon the balcony in attentive silence. As the little 
prayer-song drew to a close, he reached over and dropped 
into the lap of the child a ten-dollar gold-piece. Marshall 
Jewell, who was present and interested in Carpenter's actions, 
inquired if that was not an unusual gift. " Oh," replied the 
giver, " you don't know how much pleasure that gold will 
bestow upon the child, and I shall never miss it." 

John A. Logan, in dwelling upon Carpenter's goodness of 
heart, in his memorial address said: 

Sir, his nobleness of character and greater tenderness of heart made him 
beloved by all who knew him well. Frank and cordial in his greetings to 
all, he was ever ready to extend a helping hand to those in need. The last 
time he was out of his home was to ask that an unfortunate friend be given 
employment. He had been very ill, but was convalescing when this person 
appealed to him to make the effort in his behalf. Mastering by his great 
will-power the physical weakness of the hour, he ordered his carriage, and 
by the assistance of a servant entered it and drove to a department in this 



CHARITY. 539 

city, sought the chief, and earnestly presented his friend's cause, and, as one 
can imagine, was successful ; returning home much exhausted, he took his 
bed never to rise again. 

H. L. Humphrey, representative from Wisconsin, who 
knew him well, is not less eloquent than Logan : 

The great orator and statesman was generous and kind. His deeds of 
charity were many. He would defend the poor man with all his wealth of 
learning and eloquence when no fee could be expected. His early strug- 
gles with poverty had put him into sympathy with the unfortunate. His 
goodly nature, aside from his personal experience, had made him the friend 
and defender of the poor. The eminent lawyer and accomplished orator 
was at the same time the ready friend, the kind, sympathetic supporter of 
him who was ready to perish. Herein was honor. Hence shall come the 
sweet memories of noble deeds, following into the distant future the name 
of him who performed them. 

" The drying up a single tear has more 
Of honest fame than shedding seas of gore." 

In a chapter on " good hearts " the Washington corre- 
spondent of the St. Louis Democrat once related this char- 
acteristic tale: 

One day during the special session of 1871 — a sweltering day in June — 
Carpenter had made a speech on the Alabama matter, and returned to his 
lodgings tired and out of breath. Fahrenheit marked one hundred degrees 
in the shade. The air was still, and shimmered over the hot brick pave- 
ments as from an oven. It was not a day for good nature. Matt, had just 
laid down on a lounge to smoke a cigar and incidentally to go to sleep, 
when "cling! clang! cling!" went the door-bell. 

Matt, hiding his discomfiture, cried cheerily: " Come in; come in!" 

The visitor was a fine, decent owld Irishwoman, between fifty and sixty, 
or thereabouts. She looked tired and worn. She had walked into town 
from somewhere up in Maryland, about twenty miles. 

" And is this Sinator Cairpinter; Lord bless him.?" she inquired. 

"Yes, madame; can I do anything for you? " responded the "sinator," in 
his blandest tones. 

"Maybe ye moight," said the woman. "Ye see, sinator, I am a poor 
Irish woman. Me husband got sick in the war, and he niver has been able to 
do much since, and I've had a hard time of it to get along, with all the doc- 
tor's bills to pay, and — " 

" Well, well. Here's a five-dollar — " 

"Ah, Sinator, Ochone, it isn't begging I am, and I wouldn't handle a 
whip o' yer money — it's only a chance to work like a dacent woman I 



540 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

want, and they towld me that Sinator Cairpinter waz a good-hearted man, 
and if I went and towld him me story, he wud help me to get a place in the 
trisury departmint." 

" Treasury department," broke in the astonished senator, " what can you 
do in the treasury department?" And he began to imagine that the woman 
was either crazy or that some practical joker had sent her to him. 

"What can I do in the trisury departmint, is id? What can I do? 
Why, scrub, scrub the floors; what else?" 

"Scrub I " said Matt., "well here is richness. An old Irish woman seek- 
ing senatorial influence to get a job of scrubbing! Just you wait till I put 
on my boots and hat, my good woman, and I'll see what can be done for 
you." 

And in about five minutes the Wisconsin orator was on his way to the 
temple of the exchequer with his protege. The senatorial influence w^as 
potent, and if you call at the treasury department and inquire for the 
woman who holds her position at the request of Matt. Carpenter, they will 
show you a fine dacent owld Irish woman, with gray hair and wrinkled 
face, who mops the floors and scrubs the stairways, and she is Matt.'s " lady 
friend" there. 

Ed. F. Carpenter, of Janesville, Wisconsin, a half-brother, 
feelingly writes: "Outside of my own household there is no 
name in the world as sweet as Matt.'s. Whatever I am I 
owe to him. He brought me from my mountain home in 
Vermont and sent me through Beloit College at his own 
and at no very small expense." Years before he paid the 
expense of keeping one of his sisters in school at Waterbury 
and afterward purchased a farm for his father at Warren, 
Vermont. 

E. W. Keyes recollects that he once sat on the veranda of 
Willard's Hotel, in Washington, with Carpenter, when a 
wandering band of Italian musicians stopped and played be- 
fore them. At the close of the music a rich-skinned, black- 
eyed girl came shyly along with a hnt for dimes. Carpenter 
tossed her a five-dollar bill. As she bounded away to ac- 
quaint her companions of their extraordinary good fortune, 
he exclaimed with keen satisfaction: "Just see how happy I 
have made them!" The gift was a source of greater pleas- 
ure to him than to them. 

He gave very largely toward building and supporting vari- 



CHARITY. 



541 



ous churches and contributed far more liberally than any- 
other man of equal means to the endowment fund of Beloit 
College. 

It is related that a poor blind man named Campbell, hav- 
ing the title to his little homestead brought into question, 
went to Carpenter for help to defend it. The issue was tried 
in the inferior courts and decided adversely, but Carpenter 
paid the costs, cleared the record and carried the suit to the 
supreme court. There he was successful, and in due time 
returned with a clear title to his client's little nest. On en- 
gaging him Campbell promised: "If you can keep my 
property away from the rascals who are now after me, I 
will deed it to you." Immediately after the suit was decided 
the old man groped his way to Carpenter's office and asked 
whether the necessary papers for the promised transfer had 
been drafted. "Yes," said his attorney, "here they are. 
Take them home to your wife, and if they are all right, 
sign them." He returned home and there found them to be 
receipted bills for Carpenter's services and all the expenses 
of the various suits, together with a confirmed deed of his 
homestead. A blind man's joys, like his woes, can not be 
described. When he went to express his thanks, Carpenter 
replied : " I was once sightless and helpless like yourself. If 
any but the Almighty knows what human kindness is, I 
know ; and I would not take your money though I knew it 
to be my last earthly hope of a dollar." 

On one cold Christmas morning, just as he entered his 
office in Washington, a thinly-clad woman, with tear-stained 
and sorrowful face, came and inquired for " the good Sena- 
tor Carpenter." Robert ^ brought her at once into the pri- 
vate office. "Merry Christmas to you! my good woman. 
What can I do for you?" cried Carpenter, affecting no notice 
of the traces of her troubles. " Oh, sir," she said, bursting 
into tears, " my landlord, Mr. , has just turned me 

1 Robert Strahan, for many years Carpenter's faithful valet. 



542 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

and my children out of the house and is putting our furniture 
into the street because I could not pay last month's rent." 

Rising up suddenly and hesitating a moment to recover 
from his utter astonishment, he exclaimed: "Great God, 
father of the poor! Is it possible that on this beautiful 
Christmas day, the morning on which Christ was born, 
there can be found in Washington a wretch who could turn 
a tenant into the street for non-payment of rent? And a 
Tvidotv, too^ with clinging babes! Here, my poor woman, is 
twenty dollars; it is all the money I have. Pay it to the 
rascal and tell him to put your goods back into the house. 
Tell him, too, I will attend to his case to-morrow." 

The hard-hearted landlord had an early visit from Car- 
penter next day, and it may be recorded that he has never 
repeated that unrighteous and unpardonable Christmas 
episode. 

Instances like this might be multiplied ad infinitum. After 
his death, Mary, the well-known Washington apple-woman, 
appeared at the funeral and with tears flowing freely, ex- 
claimed: "Oh, and is he dead.? He was such a good man. 
He always bought apples of me, and never took any change!'''' 

Carpenter is now taking his " change " where " neither 
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break 
through nor steal." 

That man may last but never lives 
Who much receives but nothing gives; 
Whom none can love, whom none can thank, 
Creation's blot, creation's blank." 



RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 543 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 

Carpenter contained abundant material for a devout and 
exemplary Christian — or, rather, church-member, for he 
was in fact a Christian. He was naturally religious in his 
tendencies, and, in the presence of solemn ceremonies, or 
beneath the teachings of an eloquent and earnest divine, the 
depth of his sympathies never failed to become manifest. As 
he execrated formalities in friendship and charity, so he neg- 
lected some of those outward forms of worship which often 
advertise to the world a hypocrite or an impostor. He was, 
nevertheless, a believer in the truths of the Bible and the 
divinity of Jesus Christ. All the acts of his private life be- 
tween himself and others were measured by the golden rule. 
He was a believer, but did not think well of making an 
outcry about it. He once said : " A record of good deeds 
wiU comfort us all in this world, and no one will stand the 
worse for it in the next." " Even so faith, if it hath not 
works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say. Thou 
hast faith, and I have works ; show me thy faith without thy 
works, and I will show thee my faith by my works." 

Superstition drives many into the church and into religious 
ceremonies; but Carpenter was not one of them. He had a 
mind capable of deep reasonings and great conclusions. He 
knew that the teachings and philosophy of the Child of 
Bethlehem were far beyond those of ordinary men. No one 
better understood the weaknesses of the flesh, and the neces- 
sity of having some lofty sentiment or noble profession to 
hold nature in check and diminish the trespassings of error. 
He was a diligent reader of the Bible from early childhood, 
and, after practicing its precepts liberally, passed to "the 
hereafter of hope and faith," as he so often expressed it, in 
perfect peace and confidence. 



544 "LIFK OF CARPENTER. 

He carried with him to West Point a small Bible, which 

gives evidence of liberal use, and on the fly-leaf of which he 

wrote : 

United States Military Academy, 

West Point, N. Y., November 25, 1843. 
I commenced the New Testament August 31, 1843, on leaving camp, and 
have read the last chapter ot the same this evening. 

Even before this, Carpenter had theorized upon the 
breadth of genuine Christianity, and arrived at broader con- 
clusions than form a part of any church creed. In a speech 
on that part of the civil rights bill proposing to secure church 
privileges to colored people by law, delivered in the senate 
in 187 1, he made reference to those early conclusions: 

I am not speaking from an impulse of prejudice. I could worship beside 
those of different nationalities, and with men of color. One of the most 
impressive scenes I ever witnessed — one that made a lasting impression 
upon my mind — I recall in this connection. The first time I ever left my 
New England home, while a mere lad, I went to Montreal ; and on a bright 
Sabbath morning, without knowing whither I was going, I fell in with the 
moving crowd and found myself in the Catholic cathedral of that city capa- 
ble of holding several thousands. There I found a vast multitude of wor- 
shipers. There was the governor-general of the province, with high officers 
of state, mingling indiscriminately with the people. There were officers 
high in military rank and private soldiers, naval officers of distinction and 
common sailors. There were Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Italians, 
Negroes, and Indians. No special accommodations for any; no purple 
cushioned seats lor men in authority; no red cushions for men of wealth; 
no uncushioned benches for men of less degree. Indeed, no seats at all. 
All stood upon the common level of a stone floor; and when the tinkling 
of the silver bell was heard and the host was e.valted, all knelt upon the 
same floor. I never realized before, as when I saw it then illustrated, that 
of one flesh God had made all the nations of the earth. I never appreciated 
so fully before how completely our holy religion ignores the artifical distinc- 
tions of society. That realized my idea of a Catholic communion, and 
represented to my apprehension that God is so far above man that artificial 
and accidental distinction among men are forgotten in His acknowledged 
presence. 

Benjamin Nute, an early graduate of Beloit College, says 
the first time he ever heard Carpenter speak was in 1848, 
during a series of revival meetings in that village. The 



FAVORITE DIVINES. 545 

young attorney was present every evening and generally oc- 
cupied a front seat, the observed of all observers. He sat 
leaned sharply forward, eagerly drinking in every sentence 
that fell from the lips of an eloquent, old-fashioned exhorter, 
and did not fail to manifest his approbation and pleasure at 
any apt exposition of Bible truth or enunciation of broad 
Christian doctrine. At the close of each night's preaching a 
general request for remarks was^put forth by the exhorter, 
and Carpenter made two or three responses, devoting a few 
minutes to explaining, as he understood them, certain pas- 
sages of the Bible, and applying them to what he thought 
ought to be the true code of Christianity. These brief re- 
marks attracted public attention because of the freshness and 
beauty of their expression and the soundness of their logic. 

Shortly after this, during his months of blindness. Carpenter 
had the Bible read to him by the hour. It is probable that 
all the favorite chapters from which he quoted freely without 
reference to the text, in after life, were fixed upon his memory 
during that period. But he never ceased to resort to its 
pages, and when at home frequently read from the New Tes- 
tament those passages which he declared contained the most 
profound philosophy, the most perfect law, the greatest liter- 
ary skill and the most lucid statements that had ever been 
given to man. 

So familiar was he with the very spirit of Holy Writ that 
in court or upon the rostrum he could seize upon matters 
that came up unexpectedly, and clothe them, like the magic 
appearance of the rainbow in a storm, with the revered 
vestments, the sanctified halo, of Divine Scripture. 

FAVORITE DIVINES. 

Carpenter often said that upon the evidence, judicially con- 
sidered, he was, and could be, nothing less than an orthodox 
Christian in his religious beliefs. He was familiar with 
nearly all the religions of the world, knew many divines 
well — some of them intimately — and loved to entertain 
35 



546 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

them. He was strongly attached to the eccentric and able 
Father James Cook Richmond, whose murderers he went a 
thousand miles to prosecute, and was an active supporter of 
him and his church. He was, perhaps, more intimate with 
Hugh Miller Thompson,' now assistant bishop of Mississippi, 
and was on very friendly terms with Dr. De Koven and the 
professors of Nashota House. Although he mingled freely 
with the Episcopal church, and entertained its divines, he 
was ver}'- fond of the late Archbishop Henni, and often said 
if he should ever join any church it would be the Roman 
Catholic. 

LETTER TO DAVID SWING. 

Some months before his death Carpenter wrote a letter to 
David Swing, of Chicago, upon the subject of religion. Un- 
fortunately, Prof. Swing's publishers destroj^ed the original 
letter, but in one of his sermons an extract is preserved: 

Whoever will read Cicero's Twilight Speculations about " Duty and the 
Future Lite," remembering that perhaps he was the fullest man of antiq- 
uity, the ripest scholar and student of the highest period of Roman civil- 
ization; and remembering that from the birth of Caesar to the birth of 
Christ the only change that came to civilization was a decline, and that 
Jesus belonged to an out-of-the way people — a people apart from the higii 
tides of human greatness — and then will read the Sermon on the Mount. 
can not, I apprehend, escape the conclusion that the ditTorence is not one of 
degree but of kind. That Jesu<, surrounded as he was, could have pro- 
mulgated a system of morals embodying all that is most valuable in the 
prior life of the world, of which he could have known nothing, and to 
which nineteen centuries of civilization have been unable to add a thougiit 
or impart an ornament, is a fact not to be explained by any ridicule.2 



1 Carpenter and Thompson spent much time together discussing the Bible, 
dissecting the religious history of the world, and imparting new ideas to 
each other. Although they agreed closely in their general beliefs, it was a 
mutual feast to dwell upon religious topics of an evening until long after 
the outside world had sunk to slumber. 

- The following letter discloses how this confession was drawn from Mr. 
Carpenter : 

Chicago, Illinois, July iS, 1SS3. 

Dear Sir: — Senator Carpenter, while in Washington, read in some 
daily a sermon of mine in which Christ was set forth as the great moral 



"I BELIEVE THIS. 547 

"I BELIEVE THIS." 

In a volume of English biographies Carpenter wrote under 
the following passage from a speech of Lord Erskine de- 
scribing how God will judge men on the last day, these 
words, " I believe this: " 

Holding up the great volumes of our lives in his hands, and regarding 
the general scope of them ; if He discovers benevolence, charity and good 
will beating in the heart, where He alone can look; if He finds that our 
conduct, though often forced out of the path by our infirmities, has been in 
general well directed; His all-searching eye will assuredly never pursue us 
into those little corners of our lives; much less will His justice select them 
for punishment, without the general context of our existence, by which 
faults may be sometimes found to have grown out of virtues, and very 
many of our heaviest offenses to have been grafted by human imperfection 
upon the best and kindest of our affections. 

If the general tenor of a man's life be such as I have described it, he may 
walk through the shadow of death, with all his faults about him, with as 
much cheerfulness as in the common paths of life; because he knows, that 
instead of a stern accuser to expose before the Author of his nature those 
frail passages which * * * checker the volume of the brightest and 
best spent life., His mercy will obscure them from the eye of His purity, 
and our repentance blot them out forever. 

On Monday evening, August lo, 1874, Carpenter was 
chosen to present to the Young Men's Association, of Mil- 
waukee, Lydston's portrait of the late Sidney L. Rood, an 
eccentric but philanthropic banker. Rood was a man who 
carried food and fuel to the doors of the poor by night and 
in secret, and in closing a beautiful tribute to his noble qual- 
ities Carpenter affirmed that he " had no doubt God had 
seen the secret charities of his dead friend and would re- 
ward them openly." 

Leader of the human family. He sat down^nd wrote me a large four or six- 
page leiter regarding the divineness, the supra-human quality of Jesus. He 
was fully assured that Christ was not simply a man. 

We were both strangers to each other, but in some train of deep ponder- 
ing over the problems of faith he used a quiet night hour, perhaps, in 
pouring out to me several pages of his life-long convictions and oft-return- 
ing meditations. With kind regards, 

David Swing. 



548 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

In a speech delivered when the corner-stone of the Taylor 
Orphan Asylum was laid, Carpenter exclaimed: " The poor 
want less talk and more bread; the world needs less doc- 
trine and more religion; less of form and more of substance; 
less of the pretending and more of the reality of Godliness 
and charity." 

One of the last letters he "wrote to his sister, Mrs. Taylor, 
of St. Paul, was in answer to congratulations from her on 
his second elevation to the senate. It was under date of Jan- 
uary 27, 1879, and among other beautiful things said: " I 
have always regretted that our paths in life have been so 
divergent. But this life is only an ante-chamber to the great 
reunion which will know no end, in the good time coming." 

Those who thank God that they are better than other 
men may say what they please about the technicalities of 
Carpenter's religion; it certainly was of that kind which 
made the world better and happier. It relieved suffering and 
want, cheered the sorrowing and aided the unfortunate — 
gave him hope and happiness through life and peace and faith 
at the coming of death. What creed can do more ? 

WITHOUT MALICE 

It may be claimed that Carpenter was the best example 
of an organization without malice that has ever appeared 
prominently in American public life. Perfect control of tem- 
per and an unending flood of good humor under all circum- 
stances were his most powerful weapons in defeating an 
aggressive antagonist, or in winning the sympathy of an 
audience. The Bible proverb that " He that ruleth his spirit 
is greater than he that taketh a city," was never more con- 
spicuously exemplified than in Carpenter. Of this quality 
Allen G. Thurman has said: 

And wliat a wonderful command of temper he possessed ! I have seen 
him in the most heated discussions in the senate, in committee, and at the 
bar, when the coolest and most experienced man might have been excused 
for an angry word, or, at least, an angry look, and yet I can not recall a 



WHO IS WITHOUT SIN? 549 

single instance in which he lost his temper. Had this self-command been 
the result of a cold temperament, a want of proper sensibility, or an un- 
feeling heart, it would afford no theme for commendation. But when it 
was found in a man of an ardent nature, of the keenest sensibility, and of 
the warmest affections, too much can scarcely be said in its praise. 

That absolute lack of rancor was a perpetual cheval-de- 
frise, guarding him from savage attack and angry retort 
where others would have been whelmed with both. The 
Tartar warriors often imprint their names upon their poi- 
soned arrows. If Carpenter sent forth arrows, he, too, sent 
his name upon them, that the arm which shot them might 
be known ; but they were winged with pleasantry and good 
humor — not dipped in malevolence or venom. None of his 
numerous victories were ever followed by the barbarian 
shout of " Voe. victesf'* Friends and foes met equal consid- 
eration, and to the conquered he was especially kind. 

A venerable sage, Andrew E. Elmore, rarely visits the 
capitol at Madison without contemplating a large portrait of 
Carpenter which hangs in the building, always exclaiming 
with tenderness: "Oh, but Matt, had a good heart, a good 
heart!'''' A distinguished writer has said that "if Carpenter 
had been born a king he would have ruled his subjects with 
a sceptre of love. In his right hand he ever carried gentle 
peace to silence envious tongues. All the world knew his 
faults as well as his virtues. There was nothing hidden in 
his nature. The life he lived and the battles he fought were 
as on the mountain-tops, still open to view, and where the 
sunshine of his victories still gleams." Only the eagle and 
the reptile can reach the mountain-top; certainly no man 
ever had less in him of the reptile than Carpenter. 

WHO IS WITHOUT SIN? 

This narrative has not proceeded upon the presumption 
that its subject was without faults. That would make him 
supra-human. He had them, indeed, as do we all; but they 
were of the head, never of the heart. " As God cast faults 



550 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

upon woman," says Jules Michelet, " to make her excellent 
attributes show to better advantage," so nature left small 
and unimportant defects in Carpenter's character that his 
genius, his kindness and his charity might shine forth with 
increased brightness and splendor. This beautiful green 
earth hath rocks and desert places, the sun hath spots upon 
his resplendent disk, and God hath said, " There is no man 
that sinneth not, no iiot oneP 

Carpenter was remarkable for many things, but not for 
the number or size of his transgressions. The majority of 
mankind are more noted for the size and number of their 
transgressions than for patriotism, kindliness and unstrained 
charity. Therefore, to bestow any special remembrance 
upon those small trespasses of our subject, which, according 
to his great mind and his great career, were so much less con- 
spicuous than our own — than those of the masses — would 
be an injustice and contrary to the teachings of the Master 
of Nazareth. We all may do worse, but none can do 
better than to follow His imperishable example. " For if 
ye forgive men their trespasses, 3^our Heavenly Father will 
also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their tres- 
passes, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your tres- 
passes." 

" I am that I am, and they that level 
At my abuses, reckon up their own ; 
I may be straight, thougli they themselves be bevel — 
By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown." 

So, let those who are perfect point out the shallow blem- 
ishes of Carpenter — the little transgressions that mar his 
character only as the deformity of its smallest leaf doth 
wreck the symmetry of the mighty oak. 

WORLDLY POSSESSIONS. 

Some men, with Carpenter's commanding talents and 
great success at the bar, would have died millionaires. But 
he possessed none of the sordidness that is necessary to make 



DOMESTIC LIFE. 55 1 

mere Croesuses. If he had, he would not have reached a 
seat in the senate of the United States, nor died the associate 
of the great and the defender of the masses. If he had been 
a simple money-getter, he would not have left his business 
during the Rebellion to journey up and down among the 
people, teaching them the duty of the hour without fee or 
reward, like John the Baptist, who fed upon locusts and wild 
honey as he preached the gospel to the Israelites. 

Although he could exclaim, with Lord Bacon, that riches, 
like the baggage of an army, " hindereth the march; yea, 
and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the vic- 
tory," Carpenter nevertheless left, in addition to the family 
homestead in Milwaukee, a comfortable competence for his 
wife and children. 

This homestead, an old-fashioned brick, contains Carpen- 
ter's fine miscellaneous library of about six thousand vol- 
umes, the large library table he used in his Washington 
office, two chairs from the old house of representatives, two 
chairs formerly belonging to Henry Clay, and articles of 
vertii — paintings, studies and the like — collected and fancied 
by him. But he gave to his friends more than he kept for 
himself, and, after his death, a chair that was once the prop- 
erty of Chief Justice John Marshall, was presented by 
Mrs. Carpenter to Jeremiah S. Black. The law library, 
except less than a thousand volumes selected by Geo. F. Ed- 
munds for the future use of Paul D. Carpenter, was sold 
after Carpenter's death, at public auction in New York. 

DOMESTIC LIFE. 

It was within the sacred precincts of the family circle, be- 
yond all rightful view of the public, that the ethereal mildness 
of Carpenter's temper and the fathomless goodness of his 
heart found their fullest play. His little flock comprised, as 
we have incidentally seen, the wife (to whom he paid court 
in her childhood) and two children — Lilian and Paul Dil- 
lingham. Two children died in infancy. 



552 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

If it were not sacrilegious to invade, after death, those ten- 
der secrets which are so carefully guarded from the world 
in life, a chapter of rare loveliness might be compiled from 
the letters to his wife and children. The few that blossom 
along the pages of this volume in connection with great his- 
torical facts are but a small prefigurcment of the hundreds 
sent out from his heaviest labors and deepest vigils, all bear- 
ing the burdens of love and solicitude. 

At home his wit and playfulness were unconfined and his 
indulgence unlimited. " Pauley boy " and " Pet " luxuriated 
in everything in the way of books, pictures, dolls, playthings 
and amusements it was proper for them to have, and almost 
every letter, in his absence, contained a liberal inclosure of 
money " for soda water " and to " spend as they pleased." 
To his wife he confided his professional engagements, politi- 
cal plans and senatorial triumphs, and if his letters to her 
might be published many interesting state secrets would be 
divulged, and many historical facts shorn of their mystery 
and falsehood. 

As our longing for immortality might be destroyed by un- 
veihng the bliss of Heaven, so the beauty of Carpenter's 
perfect domestic felicity would be marred by exposing it to 
the common view. Here, then, shall we leave him — the ten- 
der husband and the indulgent, proud and loving father. 



NOTES AND ANECDOTES. 553 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

NOTES AND ANECDOTES. 

The wit of Carpenter was spontaneous. He never bela- 
bored himself to strain out puns or forcibly carve jokes from 
whole cloth. The scintillations of his humor only shone 
forth as a never-absent part of the flow of his conversations 
and addresses, as water only sparkles when it leaps and 
dashes. If the torrent be gathered into a pool, its shimmer, 
pearls and flashes disappear; so any attempt to present the 
wit of Carpenter as a separate feast destroys its lambent 
beauty. 

His private conversation, his briefs, cases and pleas, his 
legal arguments, and all his public addresses, glitter with sly 
humor and unexpected wit, while at social gatherings his 
satires, burlesques and ingenuities captivated the throng. 
But as they were all an inseparable portion of his every-day 
life, it is impossible to bring many of his conceits under a 
single view. 

Once while discussing theology with an eminent Catholic 
divine, he observed that " purgatory was merely a motion for 
a new trial." 

" Put him out," shouted the audience when a person near 
the door was interrupting with impertinent inquiries one of 
Carpenter's speeches. "No," he retorted instantly, " don't put 
him out, change his drink." 

When the great war between the people and the railway 
corporations was in progress, the rail-ways claimed to have 
" inalienable rights." As these are natural rights and come 
alone from the Creator, Carpenter retorted that " matrimony 
was the only corporation, so far as he knew, ever created by 
Divinity." 

As he was emerging from the court-room in Milwaukee, 
after making an argument in an important cause, a boggy 



554 L^^E OF CARPENTER. 

little Irishman called out: " Misther Cairpinter, yez ought to 
charge yer cloients nothing for yer argyments." " Why so? " 
asked Carpenter curiously. " Bekase," said Pat in a religious 
tone, *' yez do it so ai'sy, it isn't roight." This Carpenter always 
regarded as one of the highest compliments ever paid him. 

At a very early day the Rev. Alfred Eddy came from 
Niles, Mich., and opened what w' as termed a " blue-light " 
Presbyterian church ^ in Beloit. He was a man of robust 
mind and good sense — what might be called a stout 
preacher. Carpenter liked him, and frequently listened to his 
sermons. Finally he asked the dominie to expound from the 
pulpit certain portions of the Bible. " You write me some 
sermons on those subjects and I'll preach them," was the re- 
sponse. The offer was instantly accepted, and for several 
Sundays Rev. Eddy, as an old settler has deposed, " gave his 
hearers the best talks ever heard in Beloit." He himself 
thought so highly of the discourses that he made a vigorous 
attempt to have Carpenter abandon the law and enter the 
ministry, but, as we know, without success, though frequently 
thereafter he had the benefit in his sermons of Carpenter's 
thoughts, arguments and writings. 

In 1854 Jonathan E. Arnold, a noted criminal lawyer of 
early days, engaged Carpenter to aid him in defending a 
man of means but of unsavory reputation who had been 
charged with a grave oflense. The trial was held before a 
judge in the interior of Wisconsin >vho was noted more for 
the exalted notions he entertained of his position than for 
great knowledge of the law. The judge, not having an ac- 
quaintance with him, thought Carpenter was some country 
lawyer who had entered the case for the purpose of receiv- 
ing lessons in criminal practice from Mr. Arnold. 

He opened for the defense in an unpretentious way, ex- 
plaining what he expected to prove and citing law and rul- 
ings governing the admissibility of certain evidence. The 
court, unable to control himself while a young stranger laid 

1 Now the First Presbyterian church. 



NOTES AND ANECDOTES. 555 

down rules of evidence for his guidance, exclaimed : " I 
see, sir, you do not know the opinions of this court upon 
such matters." Slightly surprised Carpenter replied : " I 
confess, your honor, that I am less familiar with the private 
views of this court than with the law in this case." " I fine 
you, sir," shrieked the judge, pounding vehemently upon 
the rickety old bench behind which he was sitting, " I fine 
you, sir, ten dollars for contempt of court and disbar you 
from practice until it shall be paid!" 

Without the slightest apparent discomfiture Carpenter 
drew a gold eagle from his pocket, placed it on the table, 
and, half-turning to the audience, said in a bland and pleas- 
ant voice: "I am a stranger in these parts and not familiar 
with your market prices; but it strikes me that this is a 
mighty small amount of cash for an almighty sight of con- 
tempt!" Shouts of laughter followed this sally, during 
which Carpenter withdrew from the crowded and dingy 
court-room. Mr. Arnold quietly slipped the gold into his 
pocket and the trial proceeded. After adjournment of court 
for evening Arnold brought the furious judge and the daunt- 
less young barrister together, the little unpleasantness was 
amicably adjusted, and the two remained friends until death 
adjourned the former's court forever. 

Jeremiah S. Black, the great advocate, was an able chewer 
of tobacco. The deeper he went into an argument the 
more vigorously he chewed, and the more he chewed the 
stronger, more aggressive and more successful he became. 
In the McCardle case, in which Carpenter and Black were 
of opposing counsel, the latter had begun, as the cause pro- 
gressed, to chew and strengthen and strengthen and chew. 
Observing this. Carpenter leaned over to Lyman Trumbull 
and whispered loud enough to be heard everywhere: 
" They've got us. Black has filled one spittoon and just 
sent for another." 

Among the things which Carpenter repeated with great 
relish was a remark made by his son Paul when a very 



55^ LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

small boy. At a social evening gathering a guest inquired, 
"Paul, what do you intend to do when you grow to be a 
man?" 

" Well," answered the boy, " I should like to be a circus- 
man, but I suppose I shall have to be a senator." 

While absent upon legal business and his partner, Ryan, 
was closeted in intense thought upon an intricate case, a map- 
peddler entered Carpenter's office. His clerk explained to 
the agent that he made no purchases and it would be useless to 
unfold the map. " But is there no one else in these offices?" 
pleaded the intruder. The clerk replied that there was, and 
without further ado opened an adjoining door and introduced 
the fellow to the great but eccentric jurist. 

Mr. Peddler was a human caricature worthy of better treat- 
ment than he subsequently received. His legs were long and 
his pantaloons short; his frame was large and his co«t small; 
his eyes resembled those of a cat-fish; his hair hung tangled 
on his shoulders, and his long, bony fingers grasped opposite 
edges of an outstretched map. Ryan looked at the uncouth 
intruder a moment and then, fl3'ing at him like a hornet, 
drove him out with more haste than elegance. The clerk was 
alarmed at the extraordinary spectacle — the great lawyer 
and the great map-peddler gyrating through the room to- 
ward the hallway. 

The poor clerk did not know that above all things on 
earth Ryan detested and hated peddlers. In less than two 
minutes Ryan came rushing out of his room with a letter 
directed to Carpenter, and throwing down ten dollars, ex- 
claimed in a manner denoting that something of importance 
was at stake: "Take that letter to Mr. Carpenter in the 
shortest possible time." 

The clerk dashed out and reached the depot just in time 
to take the first train for Janesville. He arrived in due time, 
and although Carpenter was in the midst of a legal argu- 
ment, the contents of the letter were supposed to be of such 
grave import that he rushed forward and delivered the mes- 



NOTES AND ANECDOTES. 557 

sage. Carpenter dropped the thread of his address a mo- 
ment to open the billet and read : " Mr. Carpenter : — I wish 
you would keep your damned fool out of my office. E. G. 
Ryan." 

In order to get even with his partner, Carpenter caused it 
to be reported to Ryan that one of their distinguished clients 
had had born to him a child that was half-white. He ex- 
pressed a desire that Ryan should go and see what could be 
done to keep the unfortunate matter out of the newspapers. 
Ryan went, and putting all his genius to its utmost strain, 
broached the subject to the father of the child. Amidst 
great embarrassment he learned that the new-comer was a 
perfect Caucasian in color, health and brightness. Return- 
ing in a towering rage he met Carpenter's quiet remark: "I 
supposed you knew the other half of the child was white, 
too." 

Many years ago Carpenter described the late Alex. H. 
Stephens, who was a mere child in stature, in this wise: 
" An empty coach halted at the treasury department and 
Aleck Stephens got out of it." 

He was of opinion that President Hayes should have been 
an insurance agent, on account of his extraordinary ability to 
get out policies. 

He once referred to a famous secretary of the navy as " a 
great constitutional lawyer among sailors and a great sailor 
among constitutional lawyers." 

During the trial of an important cause at Kenosha, Wis- 
consin, the opposing counsel, Orson S. Head, for some time 
kept putting what Carpenter denominated as " outrageously 
leading questions." The spectators marveled, as he bore 
with Head for a half-hour in silence. He made no formal 
objection, as is usual on such occasions, but after Head had 
proceeded so far as to make his programme palpable, Car- 
penter arose, and, in that jocose and genial way which mel- 
lowed all surroundings, observed: "I have no objection, 
your honor, to Brother Head's way of managing his side of 



558 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

this case; but I do think it would conduce to the orderly ad- 
ministration of justice, if he would at least filter the testi- 
mony through his witness!" Head subsided, and Carpenter 
gained much more than would have been possible by formal 
objection. 

Some years ago, while prostrate with a dangerous fever, 
he was seized with an almost unbearable pain. Turning to 
the late Surgeon-General Wolcott, his physician, he asked 
the cause of it. On being told that it arose from a stoppage 
of the colon, his irrepressible mirth triumphed over the deep- 
est of human torture, and he exclaimed: "Then it isn't a 
full slop!'' 

In 1850, one Andrew R. Mosher, a blacksmith of Beloit, 
gave his note for a certain sum to John M. Keep. Mosher 
made declaration that he would pay the note when due, if 
then living He didn't pay it, and Keep composed and had 
published a notice of Mosher's death. The latter brought 
suit acfainst the former for libel. The innuendoes of the 
complaint, containing the obituary, are extracted: 

[Communicated.] 

" Died in this village on the 15th inst, after a painful illness which he bore 
with Christian forlitude and resignation " (meaning said plaintiflf was a hypo- 
crite), "A. R. Mosher, Esq." (said plaintiff meaning), "long and favorably 
known in this community as an active and energetic business man of the 
strictest integrity " (meaning that said plaintiff was a dishonest man and 
dishonest in business and a man of no integrity) "and the author of Lec- 
tures on Baptism." (Meaning to ridicule said plaintiff as a religionist and 
as an advocate of and lecturer on baptism ) "In early life he was favorably 
known in Buffalo, Rochester and other eastern cities as an actor of decided 
merit upon the stage (meaning to ridicule said plaintiff for having been a 
comedian, and further meaning that said plaintiff had been a comedian, and 
as such meaning to expose him to the jeers of his neighbors), " and his old 
friends in that region " (meaning Rochester and Buffalo in the state of New 
York) remember his popular debuts in the character of Othello and Richard 
III." (Meaning that at Buffalo and Rochester aforesaid he had been the 
laughing-stock of the community as a comodiati.) " Peace to his remains." 
(Meaning the remains of said plaintiff.) " [[^~ Buffalo and Rochester papers 
please copy." 



NOTES AND ANECDOTES. 559 

To this novel complaint Carpenter set out sixteen causes 
of demurrer. James R. Doolittle was on the bench when the 
argument on demurrer was had, and could not conceal his 
mirth as the reading of the sixteen causes proceeded. Among 
them were these: * 

3. There is no statement or colloquium in the said declaration to show 
that, until the time of the publication of the alleged libel, the plaintiff was 
even suspected or supposed to be dead. 

14. The declaration only avers that " the plaintiff is a living citizen," 
which in no way disproves the communication, since he that was dead arose 
and lived in obedience to the command, "Lazarus come forth." The dec- 
laration should have said the plaintiff from his birth had been and then 
was a living man. 

15. It is not stated in what sense the words were written. The defendant 
may have intended, in saying the plaintiff was dead, to say that he was 
"dead in trespasses and sins," a state and condition which in no way injures 
a blacksmith in his trade and profession. 

Although the fact appeared that Mosher had indeed suf- 
fered by reason of the publication of the death notice, Car- 
penter's demurrer and argument made the complaint so 
ridiculous, and carried the court and everybody else into such 
convulsions of humor, that a judgment of discontinuance was 
obtained with costs against the complainant. 

Carpenter's life-long wit could not be suppressed even by the 
approach of death, and several times it lit up the surrounding 
gloom with the old-time brilliancy. While the final conges- 
tion was at the height of its destructive progress, he drolly 
referred to a recent state dinner spread with no drinks but 
ice-water and frozen punch, declaring : " I do believe it was 
there I caught this cold." 

The subjoined letter, arriving too late for use in the proper 
chapter, is worth inserting at almost any point: 

Charles City, Iowa, November 10, 1S83. 
Dear Sir: — Matt. H. Carpenter — I always knew him as Merritt — 
tried one of his very earliest suits for me. I was eight years his senior, 
and he conducted my first cause. The suit was about three dollars only. 
It was not brought for money but for revenge; and I, the defendant, being 
strong-willed, was determined not to give an inch. I was sued to More- 



560 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

town Hollow (where Carpenter was born and lived until he was thirteen 
years old), some ten miles from Waterbury, where both plaintiff and myself 
resided, because the plaintiff dared not bring it in our place of residence. I 
went to Paul Dillin^^ham for counsel. After hearing my case he said: 
" Pay it; although you are in tlje right, it will cost more than he claims if 
you beat him." I told Mr. D. I did not care if it did, I would not pay it. 
He replied: " I will pay it." I returned, " You shall not pay it. I am going 
to fight it out on the square if it costs me five hundred dollars ; and if you 
do not wish to go into it I will get some one else." Mr. D. said: "You 
know it is small potatoes for me, but, if you are determined to fight it out, 
Merritt Carpenter can try the suit. He can get his grandfather, Cephas 
Carpenter, to assist him." Carpenter was sitting by and heard our talk. He 
spoke up: " I would like to go and do my best. I think grandfather and 
myself can carry our point." So, on the day of trial, I took my team and 
some ten witnesses and Merritt, who had his subpoenas ready to serve on all 
the witnesses, so as to make all the costs we could. We had the law on 
our side, as a plaintiff in a suit could not collect any more cost than he 
recovered debt; so, if he had beaten us, he could not get over three dollars; 
and he was liable to pay the whole cost if defendant should get the case. 
That was the law ; so, if we should get whipped, it would not be bad. 

We started for Moretown Hollow and arrived there at the hour appointed. 
Carpenter jumped out of the sleigh and ran over to his grandfather's. He 
came back in a few minutes and said that Phillips had engaged his grand- 
father to assist Roger Buckly, a very smart lawyer; "but," says Merritt, "I 
am enough for both ot them ; so come ahead and we will go for them." 

We went into the court-room, and there sat the justice, Alpheus C. 
Nobles, ready to try the case. Merritt told the justice that he wanted a 
jury. Mr. Nobles sent for the constable, Uriah Howe, who came and 
drew the jury, and we got ready to proceed at one o'clock. 

The case was this: I was at work near a tavern kept by Drew, with my 
team, and broke my set of whiflletrees. I went over to the tavern and 
asked Mr. Drew if he had a set that he could lend me. He said he had, 
and went and got them, not knowing but what he owned them. The next 
day I saw Phillips, and he wanted to know if I had his whiffletrees. I told 
him I did not know; 1 borrowed the set of Mr. Drew. Phillips said they 
were his, and he would sue Drew for them. I returned the whiffletrees 
immediately; but, instead of suing Drew, Phillips sued me. He was of- 
fended some six months before because I collected a bill that he owed 
me, and commenced this suit to get revenge. I was willing to meet him, 
and wanted to beat him at all events. That was the reason I wanted Paul 
Dillingham, as he was the best lawyer in the state. 

Merritt, in cross-questionmg the witnesses, had to contend with both law- 
yers. They told the witnesses not to answer him, and he appealed to the 
court, and in every case the court gave the decision in our favor. 



NOTES AND ANECDOTES. 561 

When he brought my witnesses on the stand the counsel on the other 
side made Carpenter state what he was going to prove by them before they 
could proceed to testify. Then the other lawyers would object and argue 
the points, and Carpenter would answer them and make his points in law. 

Both parties had to look in the statutes, and Merritt could find his laws 
and sections in one-half the time required by the opposite counsel, and in 
every case the justice gave him the verdict. It was very interesting to the 
lookers-on. Merritt's grandfather had been stopping him and making state- 
ments as to law and the testimony, and he had been on his feet a number 
of times, until he was vexed. He finally kept his seat, and, looking up in 
the face of his grandfather (who was a very tall man), he said: "Grand- 
father, how can you lie so.-* " That brought the court and judge down to 
great laughter, and it took the court some time to restore order. 

Finally the case was given to the jury, and after fifteen minutes a verdict 
came in for Merritt. Then there was a lively demonstration in his favor. 
People came forward and shook hands with him, saying his management 
of the trial was better than that of the opposing counsel. 

I consider this remarkable, as the boy appeared before an audience of 

his former playmates and schoolmates. I then thought he was the keenest 

young man I had ever seen. 

Joseph L. Atherton. 

When Carpenter was comparatively a new-comer in Beloit 
he attended chmxh on a certain occasion and occupied a front 
seat. The minister, to illustrate retributive justice, was 
preaching from that portion of the Old Testament which 
records the intercession of Esther with King Ahasuerus 
for her people, the Jews, whose pending destruction had 
been brought about by the machinations of Haman, who 
also hated Mordecai and had erected a gallows upon which 
to hang him. The preacher with great earnestness and 
force had carried his audience up to the point where Haman 
went in to the feast and to beg the king, before Esther's face, 
to hang Mordecai. The audience w^as deeply interested, and 
Carpenter sat drinking in every sentence. Now, the preacher, 
with dramatic efTect, swiftly pictured the reverses of the in- 
triguer Haman, who was hanged with short shrift upon the 
gallows he had erected for Mordecai. At the climax Car- 
penter, forgetting everything but the intensity of his feelings, 
slapped his knee sharply and cried out: "Good! Served 
him right, b}' George ! " The audience was startled at Car- 
36 



562 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

penter's novel way of saying Amen, but the exhorter appre- 
ciated it, and from that time forth was his firm friend. 

That peculiar characteristic which is popularly termed 
absent-mindedness, but which is in fact busy-mindedness, 
was particularly conspicuous in Judge Black. Frequently, 
when invited out to dine, he would entirely forget the en- 
gagement, making his vacant chair a notable feature of the 
occasion. Several times he had thus failed to keep his din- 
ner engagements with Carpenter. Therefore, determined 
that such a calamity should not occur again, Carpenter began 
early in the morning of a day that Black was to dine with him, 
to send notes hourly, reminding the judge of his engagement. 
Finally, at five o'clock, having been pestered with about a 
dozen notes — pleading, endearing, heart-rending and other- 
wise — Black wrote : 

Dear Carp: — I beg jou not to forget that I am to dine with you to- 
day, six* o'clock. You are so eccentric and oblivious that I feared you 
might not be at home. If this note be a sufficient jog of your memory 
you will perhaps call here at six. If you don't think of it I will go to your 
office a little later. In any event please to remember the engagement. 

Yours, J. S. Black. 

The world has lost much from the imperfect record of 
Carpenter's sayings. Times without number he has uttered 
such as this, spoken at a war meeting in Janesville: " Behold 
grim treason seated upon the tombstone of liberty." 

When E. P. Brooks was consul to Dublin he sent a bottle 
of choice wine to Carpenter, and in the same package 
another bottle to his partner, James Coleman. The wine 
arrived in Coleman's absence, and Carpenter opened the 
consignment and emptied one of the bottles with some friends 
who happened to be present. Coleman, on returning, found 
the bottles standing together and took tbe full one with the 
remark, "I suppose this is mine, isn't it. Matt.?" "No," 
said Carpenter, "that is mine. We drank yours!" 

Carpenter's daughter Lilian had been seriously ill at 
Waterbury, Vermont. When she began to recover he 



NOTES AND ANECDOTES. 563 

astonished the sober denizens of that quiet village by tele- 
graphing from Washington : " Thank God ! You are better. 
If I were not a temperance man I should go out and take a 
drink!" 

In one of his great railway suits he turned to a wealthy 
witness and said: " He commits perjury as gayly as a trouba- 
dour e'er thumbed his guitar." 

Carpenter's humor could not be confined to letters, briefs, 
speeches and telegrams. Many a bank cashier has been 
convulsed by his checks. For instance, a check for his 
little daughter read: "Pay to the order of the Celestial Pet, 
Lilian, the sum of ten dollars." 

Judge Black called on Carpenter one evening in Washing- 
ton and asked his opinion on an important matter then pend- 
ing. After revolving the case a few moments in his mind, 
he replied, exposing a constitutional difficulty that rather 
startled Black, but about the soundness of which he was 
somewhat incredulous. Without disputing the statement, 
Black retired, saying he would sleep on the matter and de- 
cide in the morning. Carpenter then had sleeping apart- 
ments not far from his offices. Some hours after midnight 
he was aroused from slumber by loud and emphatic raps on 
the door. "Who's there?" shouted Carpenter. "It's Old 
Black. I have come to tell you that you are right about 
that constitution." The door was then opened and Judge 
Black entered. His appearance gave ample indication of 
the severe tussle he had undergone with the question during 
the night. His coat collar was turned in, his vest was but- 
toned awry, and his wig, thoroughly disheveled, was pulled 
far down over one ear. Carpenter lighted a cigar ^ and 
Black took a fresh chew of tobacco. Thus the two great 
lawyers, in the flickering light of the dying grate-fire, one 
in the ghostly robes of the chambre a conc/ier, and the other 
in the grotesque array of calamitous absent-mindedness, 

1 Carpenter never smoked until he was forty-three and began then in 
accordance with advice from his physician. 



564 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

chewed and smoked over the constitution for some time, and 
then retired, well pleased with each other, to peaceful, con- 
stitutional sleep. 

PROPHECIES. 

Late in 1850, Carpenter chanced to meet in Madison a 
dozen of the leading democrats of Wisconsin. The various 
features and general effect of the fugitive slave act, which 
had been the law of the land but a few months, came under 
discussion. He intimated that the act was unwise, and 
would return to plague its inventors. Being reproved for 
quivering in his democracy, he exclaimed: 

I say to you, gentlemen, the very title of this law is damning. Its spirit 
is that of barbarism,! and its tendency toward brutality. We are sowing 
the wind, and shall reap the whirlwind. The day will come when you will 
all see as I do now. This measure is pregnant with disaster, and will prove 
to be the most unfortunate and destructive enactment ever fathered by the 
party of Jefferson and Jackson. 

All readers of history know that the fugitive slave act 
hurt the democracy, and pushed on and strengthened the 
anti-slavery agitation more than anything that had ever 
happened. 

In i860 he predicted that the election of Lincoln would 

1 The law, among other things, in addition to suspending the writ of 
liabeas corpus^ provided : 

" The person having a poivcr of attorney may pursue and reclaim the 
party charged to be a slave, either by procuring a warrant from a judge or 
commissioner of the United States court, or by seizing and arresting him 
where the same can be done -without process, and taking him before said 
judge or commissioner. 

" Any person who shall obstruct the arrest, or shall rescue, or attempt to 
rescue, or shall aid or abet such alleged slave, directly or indirectly, to 
escape, or shall harbor or conceal such slaz>e, shall for either of said offenses 
be subjected to a fine not exceeding $1,000 and imprisonment not exceed- 
ing six months, and in the event of escape shall forfeit, on a civil process, the 
sum of $1,000, as the value of said slave. 

"In no trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of suck alleged 
fugitive be admitted in evidence. 

"The officer making the arrest is to have $5 and other reasonable ex- 
penses. The commissioner before whom the slave is brought is to have a 
fee of Sto, in the event of conviction, and Sj should he not deem the proof 
sufficient." 



SECRET HONORS. 565 

precipitate civil war within a year. Six months later Beau- 
regard fired upon Fort Sumter. 

In August, 1861, he pointed out that slavery must be 
destroyed in some manner, or the north could never triumph. 
In September, 1862, Lincoln signed the emancipation proc- 
lamation. 

At the close of the Rebellion he predicted that Negro 
suffrage was an inevitable and rightful consequence of cloth- 
ing the black race with freedom, and would be adopted. 
Three years later the fourteenth amendment was declared 
by congress to be in full force and effect. 

In 1865, and again in 1869, he predicted a great struggle 
between the corporations and the people. How fully that 
was verified we have already seen. 

During the Louisiana troubles he declared that to uphold a 
fraudulent government by sheer military power, making a 
fraud as good as a majority, would imbroil the next presi- 
dential election. The electoral commission was the verifica- 
tion of that prophecy. 

He foreshadowed the failure of Grant's civil service re- 
form commission; declared at its repeal that the franking 
privilege would soon, in response to popular demand, be 
restored ; that low salaries would increase the number of fed- 
eral employes and impede the transaction of public business, 
as well as fill congress with mere millionaires, and that But- 
ler's civil rights bill of 1875, whenever it should reach the 
courts, would be pronounced unconstitutional. All of these, 
with numerous lesser predictions, have been fully verified, 
except that congress yet contains members who are not 
reputed millionaires. 

No one can look back on his positions and predictions and 
say Carpenter did not possess a powerful and prophetic mind. 

SECRET HONORS. 

We have not yet become familiar with all of Carpenter's 
honors. That he frequently, for various reasons, declined 
political preferment, has already been amply recorded. 



566 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

On the morning following his first elevation to the senate, 
John J. Orton, of Milwaukee, a shrewd and analytical old 
lawyer, met Carpenter, and stretching forth his hand ex- 
claimed: " Well, Matt., you are elected. But let me give 
you a little advice. This is a great triumph; don't let it 
turn your head. Unbounded opportunities are before you. 
The time is coming when this great northwest will command 
a President. You are young, and that time will arrive long 
before your death. Keep your eye on that goal, and we will 
all stand by you till you reach it. Let the presidency be on 
your programme, and discard all meaner things in one great 
effort to have the merit to deserve it." 

This was sound reasoning. Mr. Orton could see mixed in 
Carpenter elements of strength and popularity possessed by 
no other man in the west. But his ambition did not run 
strongly in that direction, and though there was talk at 
various times of making him the republican candidate f6r 
Vice-President or President, he never put forth any effort for 
either. 

In 1869 President Grant desired to appoint Carpenter 
attorney-general in his cabinet. A clamor arose against it 
from those who wished to retain him in the senate, and 
Grant himself, under date of September 25, 1883, has written: 
* -X- * « I iij^fi^ at that time, contemplated making Mr. 
Carpenter my attorney-general; but finally abstained from 
doing so because the opinion prevailed — in which I con- 
curred — that it would not be well to take him from the 
United States senate." 

Undoubtedly the only real ambition Carpenter ever enter- 
tained was to be chief justice of the United States supreme 
court. He regarded that as the noblest if not the highest 
honor to be achieved by an American citizen, and devoted 
forty years of his life to fitting himself to adorn and com- 
pletly fill the position, if ever he should attain it. When, 
therefore, after the death, of Salmon P. Chase, he was de- 
barred from the office by an inhibition of the federal consti- 
tution, his disappointment was genuine. Again shall we 



SECRET HONORS. 5^7 

turn to Grant, who has written : * * "I did not think par- 
ticularly of him [Carpenter] in connection with the chief 
justiceship, ^ * because he was ineligible for the office, 
the salary having been increased during his term in the 
senate." 

Carpenter framed and introduced the bill increasing the 
pay of justices of the United States supreme court, and under 
the constitution was thus unfortunately debarred from occu- 
pying a seat on the bench. 



$68 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

SICKNESS AND DEATH. 

Carpenter had been in declining health three years or 
more before death overtook him. He was slowly losing 
flesh, his hair was turning white, and at times his sufferings 
were heavy. Yet, instead of relaxing his labors and taking 
a journey abroad, as advised to do, he continued to carry his 
professional, political and senatorial burdens undiminished. 
Leading physicians were consulted, and as they did not agree 
in their diagnoses, he regarded their advice as founded upon 
misinformation and of little value. One of these, upon whom 
he especially relied, was wholly mistaken, if not absolutely 
neglectful, until the disease which finall}'- proved fatal had be- 
come so firmly settled in the system as to be wholly beyond 
the reach of human skill. 

While mounting his carriage to go to Racine the night 
before election in November, 1876, Carpenter slipped, and, 
falling backward, severely cut and injured his head. He was 
on that account confined to the house for some days and was 
never afterward wholly well. Attacks of illness becoming 
frequent, Mrs. Carpenter, alarmed, requested a rigid exami- 
nation by Dr. Wm. Fox, of Milwaukee. The nature of the 
malady was then discovered and its fatal character divulged. 
Dr. Fox advised a trip to Europe, warning his patient that a 
sudden cold or imprudence in diet might result in a speedy 
termination of life. 

Not fully satisfied, he went to New York and consulted 
Dr. Alonzo Clark, who loved Carpenter as an own son. 
When, therefore, it was left to him to decide whether the 
diagnosis of Dr. Fox was correct, soon discovering that it 
was, he was sorrowful and hesitating. But his efforts to dis- 
semble were futile. Carpenter, trained by long experience 



SICKNESS AND DEATH. 569 

to read a face like a book, knew by the grave demeanor of 
his old friend that Dr. Fox was confirmed. 

" Is my malady incurable?" he demanded. The reply be- 
ing evasive, the question was repeated. At last, after per- 
sistent importunity, the terrible judgment was pronounced: 
" It is incurable." Carpenter's head fell thoughtfully upon 
his breast for a single moment. He then rallied, and a list 
of what must not be eaten was prepared, together with a 
programme of lightened labors. Dr. Clark advised against 
the European trip. This was in consonance with Carpen- 
ter's feelings ; hence he remained at home. Subsequently, in 
referring to the visit to Dr. Clark, he said: "iVfter the good 
old doctor had finished his advice that evening, I went to the 
Hoffman House, had a fine plate of oysters, retired to bed 
and slept like a babe till morning." 

After returning to Washington his partner discovered him, 
next morning, pacing up and down the offices in a grave and 
thoughtful manner. His head was thrown forward, both 
hands were clasped in the lapels of his overcoat, and his soft 
hat was crushed down lower than usual over the long, sil- 
vered locks. " Matt.," said Coleman, " what is the matter?" 
The pacing was continued a little longer, and then, seating 
himself, Carpenter answered: "I have been to see Dr. 
Clark. He says my ailment is incurable, and that unless I 
am very careful I will live but ten months longer. That's a 
pretty gloomy prospect, isn't it?" In a few moments: "Jim, 
look at my insurance papers." Coleman, as requested, ex- 
amined all the policies, found them in proper shape, and re- 
turned them to the safe. That was the first he knew of his 
partner's disability. However, under the regimen prescribed 
by Dr. Clark, Carpenter began to mend marvelously, gain- 
ing several pounds of flesh in a week. He resumed the 
usual cheerfulness of his ways, worked as formerly, and, 
except in the family circle, all thought of an early death was 
forgotten. 

He conversed almost daily with his wife of the danger he 



^*jO LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

was in, seeming especially anxious that she should under- 
stand all his business affairs in order to be prepared for the 
final catastrophe. He enjoined the family to sutler no out- 
ward change in their manner of life. They made a heroic 
elTort to keep up appearances, and, to a certain extent, suc- 
ceeded. His own efforts in that direction were entirely suc- 
cessful, and it is doubtless true that he really hoped, as he 
told his wife, " to tide over the attack until Paul should be- 
come a man, when he would be ready to go." 

In March, 1880, Drs. Reyburn and Lincoln warned Car- 
penter against the danger of further public speaking, going 
so far as to say they would not be responsible for the life. of 
the patient after another speech in the senate. Nevertheless, 
there was a rally, several speeches were made as well as 
arguments in court, and in June Carpenter journeyed to 
Chicago to throw his influence with the republican national 
convention in favor of the nomination of his old friend U. S. 
Grant for the presidency. But he was then weak and fail- 
ing, requiring fires in his apartments while those in health 
were suffering from the extreme heat. 

The effort had such an unfavorable effect that he refused 
to do any political speaking for Garfield, and, upon the coun- 
sel of physicians, did not follow his usual pleasant custom of 
spending the heated term at his Milwaukee home, in the 
cool, inviijoratinjjf breezes of Lake Michijjan. He remained 
in Washington, and, by avoiding travel and excitement, ral- 
lied decidedly from the rather alarming symptoms apparent 
at Chicago in June. Thus encouraged, he redoubled his 
professional labors, deceived the public by renewed activity 
and pleasant cheerfulness, and entered congress in Decem- 
ber, determined to push through several important measures 
that would require an unusual amount of labor. 

The case was really remarkable. The analyses of the 
physicians intended to indicate the progress of diabetes were 
deceptive. Sometimes they showed a perfectly normal con- 
dition, and even two months before death Dr. Clark said a 



SICKNESS AND DEATH. 57l 

continuation of the improvement he observed w^ould make 
Carpenter a comparatively well man.^ 

On the 15th of January, 1 881, he was seized with a severe 
cold which settled into congestion of the lungs. Then, re- 
covering somewhat, he visited some of the departments, the 
chill and fatigue of which brought on a relapse. As his 
condition grew serious, Dr. Fox was sent for, who arrived 
two days before death. Carpenter apparently had not lost 
hope, but the morning before the arrival of Dr. Fox he said 
to Mrs. Carpenter: "Cara, I am not going to get out of 
this." Several times after that during the day he was heard 
in prayer. Once he said, " God protect my babies," and 
again, "Jesus help," — the rest was inaudible. 

During the last illness he watched his wife closely, and 
appeared to be affected by her spirits. If she was sad he 
lost all courage, but when she was bright and cheerful he 
would rally perceptibly. One morning, when his servant 
Robert asked how he was, he replied: "Ask my wife. She 
knows better than I." 

Dr. Fox found Carpenter suffering intense pain, and, fully 
satisfied that the end was at hand, administered a hypoder- 
mic injection. The pains subsided, unconsciousness super- 
vened, and in that condition he died. 

His last words, in response to the inquiry of his wife, 
" Do you know me. Matt. ? " were, " Why, of course I do." 

As the current of life began to retreat to its last citadel, 
weeping friends gathered at the bedside, and Dr. Paret, 
joined by the broken voices of the family, recited the creed 

^ This letter proves his hope : 

New York, Dec. 8, 1880. 

Dear Cara: — I telegraphed you yesterday, which took the place of a 
letter, that I was much better. 

I hope to get home Saturday night, but may not until the first of the 
week. 

I think I shall be better, when I get my strength, than I have been for 
some time. The doctor thinks so, too. 

Give my love to the dear babies, and believe me, as ever, 

Matt. 



572 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

and prayers for the dying. Thus surrounded, at 9:20 o'clock 
in the morning of February 24, 1881, just as a glorious flood 
of sunlight burst over the domes and villas of Washington, 
as if to illumine the flight of his soul, the heart of Carpenter 
ceased to beat. 

No martyr ever regarded the approach of death with 
greater tranquillity. There were laudable reasons why Car- 
penter desired to retain a hold upon life yet a little while ; 
but the descending conqueror came without terrors and was 
received without trepidation or despair. He desired to serve 
his children and friends, and to carry forward certain meas- 
ures for the public weal ; but for himself he had no selfish 
yearnings to continue the battle. This was the burden of 
his talk before he fell under the shadow, and his last suppli- 
cation begged Almighty God to " bless and protect his 
babies." 

In order to lessen the strain of woe upon his loved ones, 
after his critical condition became fully known, Carpenter 
assumed a mood even more than usually bright and cheer- 
ful. He did intend to live, but if he should die he planned to 
have all sorrows reserved to the last. His child-like buoy- 
ancy disarmed suspicion and led the public to believe there 
was no danger. 

He uttered no complaints, indulged in no mocking regrets 
over what might have been, but simply met the decrees of 
fate with the composure of a philosopher and the serenity 
of a Christian. 

There were present at the moment of death, in addition to 
the members of the family. Dr. Fox, Chas. G. Williams, 
Judge Arthur MacArthur, Dr. Paret, and the servant. In 
his memorial address, Mr. Williams said of the closing 
scene: 

It so chanced that with others I spent the night at his bedside, and saw 
him breathe his last. I am aware that the scenes of the death-chamber 
are sacred, not to be drawn upon for mere dramatic effect, but there were 
incidents connected with this one which, I think, more fully portray the 



SICKNESS AND DEATH. 573 

characteristics of the deceased than volumes of eulogy could do. I was 
told that, some little time before, he had wandered slightly in his mind, and 
in his dreams fancied himself back among his Vermont hills again; that he 
spoke tenderly, even plaintively, of his mother, who died when he was a 
mere lad, and then for minutes together he would fall into deep and fervent 
prayer. But on this last night his bram was clear, and his lion-like nature 
never more strongly asserted itself 

As the shadow deepened and he began to sink, his devoted wife clung to 
him on the one side, wliile on the other was his loving daughter, and above 
them the pale face of his young son. I noticed that the daughter invari- 
ably addressed him as " my boy ! " and when near the last she would say : 
"Do you knoiv Pet, my boy.'"' His great eyes would open, and in a voice 
modulated only by affection he would reply : " Why, of course I do ! " and 
when the wife made the same inquiry, always addressing him by the 
familiar and endearing term, " Matt.," the response was the same. At one 
time, near midnight, when the attending physician had persuaded the fam- 
ily to retire for awhile, and himself was seeking needed rest, I was left in 
the room with no one but the colored man, Robert, who told me, in a voice 
stifled with emotion, that he had been the senator's body-servant for twelve 
years and more. Having occasion to go to the parlors below, and return- 
ing before I was expected, a most impressive scene met my view. The 
light was low; the senator was sleeping. The thick silver locks fell back 
from his massive forehead. Near him on the carpet was the pile of law 
books which he had ordered from his office and studied in his last case, 
while at the foot of the bed the colored man, Robert, knelt in silent prayer! 
This, Mr. Speaker, is fact, not fancy, and it tells the whole story. 

Judge MacArthur speaks of both the decline and death of 
Carpenter: 

The death of a great man is nearly always sudden, unexpected, and ap- 
palling. He lives so much in the public eye, and is interwoven so much 
with the public life, that what belongs to the individual is overlooked in 
the common interest and admiration, and when his death occurs, it comes 
upon us like a tropical sunset — sudden, instantaneous, involving us in 
darkness and despair. This was in some measure true in regard to the 
demise of Senator Carpenter. Those who were intimate with him had for 
many months observed a marked change in his appearance; his magnifi- 
cent person was losing its fullness of habit; the lustre of his merry eye, the 
cadence of his ringing laugh, were impaired and overcast with the coming 
shadow. Fits of indisposition were alternated with periods of apparently 
returning health, and hope and friendship recovered confidence and aban- 
doned all fears for his safety. 

On the afternoon of Wednesday I visited at his residence and stood by 



574 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

his bedside, where he was then asleep. I saw a dreadful change had hap- 
pened ; the end was written upon his face, and then for the first time I gave 
up all hope. Upon calling later in the evening, I found his res^piration 
painful and laborious, and it seemed as if his life were struggling to retain 
its dominion in every breath. A torpor had seized upon his consciousness, 
but his attention could be arojised to particular persons or objects. Placing 
my hand upon his shoulders, and gently shaking him, I asked him if he 
knew me. After a second he replied, "it is the judge; " and after another 
short pause, he added, " Mrs. Carpenter and I have been talking of going 
over to see you;" and then, as if his old spirit of humor and merriment 
had returned, he said, "Judge, I want to make a motion;" to which I re- 
plied that his motion was granted without argument. 

An hour or two after midnight I was again by his bedside. He was still 
weaker than before, and the vital forces were yielding slowly but surely to 
the impending catastrophe. The last indication of consciousness occurred 
shortly before day-break, when he slowly turned his head toward Mrs. 
Carpenter and his daughter. It was his last effort at recognition, and he 
closed his eyes, never again to behold his loved ones on earth. 

At this time there were present his wife, his daughter and son. Dr. Fox, 
who had traveled night and day from Milwaukee, and who supplemented 
science with friendship and love, was also present, as was the Hon. Charles C). 
Williams. As the members of his own family sat by the death-bed of him 
they loved so dearly, it seemed to me the most beautiful, the most sad and 
touching tableau I had evei witnessed. At length daylight broke through 
the crevices of the curtains, the sun came forth in unclouded splendor, and 
the atmosphere was balmy as in the early days of spring. It was full 
of the elixir ot life, but brought no relief to our friend. Leading Mrs. 
Carpenter to the window, I asked her if she could remember the dying ex- 
pressions of the great Mirabeau, whom her hu>band so much resembled in 
his powers ot persuasion. " ' Open the windows,' he exclaimed. ' Throw 
aside the curtains and let the sunshine fill the apartment and bathe me in 
its beams, and let the incense of the garden reach my senses, for I would 
die amidst the perfume of its flowers.' How different," I said to her, " is 
this scene in one respect, for the great Frenchman, though he feared not 
death, believed it to be an eternal sleep. But your gifted husband, although 
so largely absorbed in the activities of life, and although taking such large 
share in public business, had a strong and fruitful religious vein in his nat- 
ure, and believed that death, instead of being our final destiny, was but the 
entrance to a higher and truer life." 

At about nine o'clock Dr. Fox called me suddenly to the bed side. The 
breathing had almost ceased, the quick respiration had entirely gone. The 
breath came at long intervals, and the attendant clergyman began reading 
the solemn service of the Episcopal church f^ir the dying. The physician 
kept his hand upon the heart to mark the ebbing tide of life. I looked at 



OFFICIAL FORMALITIES. 575 

the doctor after each spasm, and the reply was, " Not yet." At last came a 
pause — long, endless. The physician withdre w his hand. Carpenter was 
dead. 

OFFICIAL FORMALITIES. 

Some public men are admired and some are respected, but 
few of them are really beloved. Carpenter belonged in all 
these categories. He was admired, respected and beloved. 
Therefore, the announcement of his death settled like a cloud 
of darkness over the entire land. Each individual felt that 
he had suffered a loss peculiarly and specially his own. Flags 
floated at half-mast on almost every public building in the 
Union, and congress, courts, legislatures and boards of trade 
adjourned as a token of sorrow and respect. His demise 
was the principal topic of conversation everywhere. His 
noble heart, his intrepid soul, his stalwart statesmanship, his 
gleaming wit, his enchanting oratory and his never-failing 
kindness were on every tongue, and all the journals, great 
and small, set forth in tender sentence and generous column 
his many good parts and great services to the country. " 'Tis 
worthy of death to be thus mourned and praised." 

In congress his death was deeply and sincerely mourned. 
He was one of the most popular senators who ever sat in 
Washington, and left not an enemy in either house. The usual 
ceremonies, therefore, had none of the mockery of mere 
formality. They were earnest and heartfelt, the tributes of 
genuine sorrow. The resolutions of adjournment, the cre-pe 
on the vacant chair, the rosettes of the officers, the putting 
aside of common affairs and the hushed voices were but ad- 
umbrants of the woe that dwelt in every heart. 

At the close of prayer Angus Cameron announced to the 
senate the death of his colleague and moved resolutions ex- 
pressing the general sorrow, asking the appointment of a 
committee of five senators to accompany the sergeant-at-arms 
with Carpenter's remains to Milwaukee, and suggesting ad- 
journment for that day. Senator Pendleton seconded the 
resolutions, the Vice-President appointed the committee, con- 



576 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

sisting of Angus Cameron, Roscoe Conkling, John A. Logan, 
Geo. H. Pendleton and Francis M. Cockrell, and the senate 
adjourned. 

As the representatives of the commonwealth of Wisconsin 
were in legislature assembled when Carpenter was born into 
political eminence and power, so were they also in session 
twelve years later when his immortal spirit took its flight, 
leaving a vacancy in the senate of the United States for them 
to fill. 

His death occurred at a period when important legislation 
was pending and the capitol was crowded with the leading 
men of the state. From both chambers, the rotunda and the 
halls of the capitol building arose the loud buzz of intensely 
busy legislators, lobbyists and visitors, all arguing, appealing 
and talking for or against the measures in which they were 
interested. The gavels of the presiding officers were momen- 
tarily expected to sound the call to order, which increased 
the eagerness and bustle of the moment. And thus, upon a 
scene of extreme activity and earnestness, came the startling 
news of death. 

At 9:50 o'clock A. M. the chief clerk of the senate received 
a dispatch from Washington announcing that Carpenter 
was dead. This was read in the rotunda and from the desks 
of both houses. Carpenter's feeble health was well known, 
yet no one was prepared for the message of death, and no 
pen can describe the change that swept over the crowded 
halls instantly after its announcement. A solemn hush took 
the place, as if by magic, of the bustle and activity of the 
preceding moment. 

People had not recovered from the first shock when the 
hour of ten o'clock arrived, and the legislature was called to 
order. The gavels fell with a peculiar sound, and the chap- 
lains breathed their opening prayers with solemnity, dwelling 
on the sudden loss Wisconsin and the nation had been called 
upon to mourn, and asking the strength of Providence to aid 
the stricken wife and children. 



OFFICIAL, FORMALITIES. 577 

The assembly, upon the motion of Ashbel K. Shepard, at 
once adjourned, and in the senate William T. Price, of Jack- 
son count}?-, at the end of roll-call, rose and said, with his pe- 
culiar earnestness: 

A giant has fallen. The nation, the state, the people mourn. It is but 
proper that this senate, as a tribute of respect to the illustrious dead, should 
now adjourn until this evening. 

Soon after both houses had adjourned Governor Wm. E. 
Smith received a telegram from Vice-President Wm. A. 
Wheeler, officially announcing that a vacancy had been cre- 
ated in the United States senate by the death of Carpenter, 
which the legislature of Wisconsin must fill. 

Senators Edward B. Simpson, of Milwaukee; Hamilton 
Richardson, of Janesville, and P. H. Smith, of Sheboygan 
Falls, and Assemblymen Ashbel K. Shepard, of Milwaukee ; 
Solon W. Pierce, of Friendship; Franklin S. Lawrence, of 
Janesville ; Franklin L. Gilson, of Ellsworth, and John Ringle, 
of Wausau, were appointed a committee to draft and present 
resolutions of sorrow and respect, and Senators I. W. Van 
Schaick, of Milwaukee, and Geo. B. Burrows, of Madison, 
and Assemblymen Otto Laverrenz, of Milwaukee; D. B. 
Barnes, of Delavan, and James A. Taylor, of Chippewa 
Falls, a committee to make arrangements for the joint meet- 
ing of both houses at which were delivered the various 
memorial addresses. 

Senators E. B. Simpson, of Milwaukee; Hamilton Rich- 
ardson, of Janesville; David M. Kelly, of Green Bay, and 
Joseph Rankin, of Manitowoc, and Assemblymen Wm. S. 
Stanley, of Milwaukee; Edward C. McFetridge, of Beaver 
Dam; Myron H. McCord, of Merrill; John D. Bullock, of 
Jefferson, and Edward Keogh, of Milwaukee, were ap- 
pointed a committee to proceed to Chicago, and, meeting the 
congressional committee, accompany Carpenter's remains to 
Milwaukee. 
37 



578 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

THE FUNERAL. 

The funeral in Washincjton was one of the lai-jrest ever 
held in that city, as well as peculiarly sorrowful and impres- 
sive. It was announced for 2 130 o'clock Sunday afternoon, 
February 27th, but long before that hour crowds began to 
gather in and about the Carpenter residence on Connecticut 
avenue. Members of the cabinet, judges of the United 
States supreme court and of other tribunals, numerous mil- 
itary and diplomatic officials, members of congress and many 
distinguished citizens from Wisconsin, Vermont, New York 
and other states were present, besides a throng of people in 
carriages and on foot in the street. The dead tribune lay 
with an expression of peace on his care-worn face, amidst a 
profusion of the flowers he had loved best. 

The body-bearers were eight uniformed members of the 
capitol police, and the pall-bearers, by appointment of either 
house of congress, were Angus Cameron, Roscoe Conkling, 
Geo. H. Pendleton, John A. Logan, F. M. Cockrell, Cliarles 
G. Williams, Geo. C. Hazelton, Horace F. Page, J. Randolph 
Tucker and E. G. Lapham. 

The ceremonies at the house consisted of the impressive 
burial service of the Episcopal church, read by Dr. Paret, 
rector of Epiphany church. Then, just as the soft gray 
clouds burst into a gentle shower, as if to mingle the tears 
of earth and lieaven in one great expression of sorrow, the 
procession moved toward Oak Hill cemetery, while the bells 
of St. Jolin's church rang out their sad, sweet vespers, a 
dirge for the mighty dead. At the cemetery, where other 
prayers were read, the coffin was strewn with fragrant 
flowers by the dead senator's only daughter, and the casket's 
silent treasure was consigned to the vault to await final 
burial in Wisconsin. 

Six weeks later, the senate adjourning specially for that 
purpose, the sergeant-at-arms, the congressional pall-bearers 



THE FUNERAL. 579 

and the family and friends left Washington on a special train 
for Milwaukee, with the dead, on Friday, April 8th. At 
Chicago Governor William E. Smith, of Wisconsin, the 
legislative committee and about one hundred members of 
committees from the chamber of commerce, Milwaukee bar, 
common council and other organizations, met the funeral 
train and accompanied it to Milwaukee. At the depot in 
that city a large procession of military and civic societies 
joined the funeral party and led the way to the court-house, 
where the casket was formally consigned to the care of the 
local committees by Roscoe Conkling, who said: 

Governor : — We are deputed bj the senate of the United States to bring 
back the ashes of Wisconsin's illustrious son, and reverently and tenderlj 
return them to the great commonwealth he served so faithfully and loved 
so well. To Wisconsin the pale and sacred clay belongs, but the memory 
and the fame of Matthew Hale Carpenter are the nation's treasures, and 
long will the sisterhood of states mourn the bereavement which bows all 
hearts to-day. 

The Sheridan Guards acted as a guard of honor while the 
body lay in state in the rotunda of the court-house, which 
was heavily draped in mourning. Early Sunday morning 
its doors were thrown open, and before two o'clock nearly 
fifty thousand persons, all famiHar with the heart and counte- 
nance of the dead, had passed under the portals of festooned 
sackcloth to view for the last time the leader they loved so 
well. The procession, containing the entire legislature, state 
officers and members of the supreme court of Wisconsin, 
several military companies and a large number of civic 
societies, was formed under General E. W. Hincks and 
marched to Forest Home cemetery, where. Rev. Dr. Ashley 
officiating, the Uniformed Patriarchs cast sprigs of evergreen 
into the grave and the bands played their most solemn 
dirges. 

Thus, on Sunday, April lo, 1881, with the winds sigh- 
ing through leafless branches, surrounded by tearful eyes, 
aching hearts and a dominion of snow, Wisconsin's illustrious 



580 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

tribune was laid at rest — given into the embrace of that 
sweet "peace that passeth all understanding." 

A chaste and beautiful monument of Barre granite, hewed 
from the mountains of his native state, and erected by the 
family, marks his last resting-place. 

TRIBUTES. 

The nation's tributes to Carpenter were generous and 
sincere. As he died at the close of the session, congress was 
imable to eulogize him until the following winter; but delay 
only made the offerings more elaborate. Wednesday, Janu- 
ary 25, 1882, was set apart in both houses for addresses 
commemorative of his life and services. The speakers in 
the senate were Angus Cameron, Augustus H. Garland, 
John A. Logan, Wm. Pitt Kellogg, Thomas F. Bayard and 
David Davis. In the house of representatives the addresses 
were by Charles G. Williams, John A. Kasson, Lucien B. 
Caswell, Mark II. Dunnell, H. L. Humphrey, Geo. M. 
Robeson, Geo. C. Hazelton, Godlove S. Orth, James 
M. Tyler, Benjamin Butterworth and Peter V. Deuster. 
Those of Cameron, Williams and Deuster were elaborate. 
Twelve thousand copies of the address, with the proceedings 
of the bar of the United States supreme court, and an en- 
graving of the dead senator's face, were, as usual, by order 
of congress, printed for general distribution. 

The two houses of the Wisconsin legislature met jointly 
on the evening of March 30, 1881, "to take suitable part in 
services commemorative of the life of Matthew Hale Car- 
penter," Thomas B. Scott, president ^ro icmpare of the 
senate, presiding. The assembly chamber was crowded 
with legislators, state officers, judges, and leading citizens 
from all sections of the commonwealth. The speakers were 
Hamilton Richardson, Alfred K. Delaney, Edward C. Mc- 
Fetridge, Solon W. Pierce, Myron II. McCord, Ashbel K. 
Shepard, Geo. B. Burrows and Merton Herrick. 

The chamber was draped in mourning; above the speak- 



TRIBUTES. 581 

er's desk a large portrait of the dead statesman, entwined 
with a tattered battle-flag from the state armory, looked 
down upon the multitude of mourners, and under the right 
gallery, wreathed with crepe, hung the pictures of the "old 
guard " — the " solid twenty-five " ^ who secured his last 
election to the senate. 

On Monday, March 7, 1881, the bar of the United States 
supreme court met to pay respect to Carpenter's memory, 
Allen G. Thurman presiding. David Davis, Arthur MacAr- 
thur, Roscoe Conkling, Jeremiah S. Black, R, T, Merrick, 
Philip Phillips, Charles Devens, W. D. Davidge and Jere- 
miah M. Wilson were appointed a committee to draft 
resolutions, which were presented to the court by Attorney- 
General Wayne McVeagh, with appropriate remarks. Eulo- 
gies were pronounced by Arthur MacArthur, J. S. Black, 
A. H. Garland, J. M. Wilson and James H. Embry. 

General Wm. T. Sherman detailed a detachment of sol- 
diers as a guard of honor while Carpenter's body lay in the 
family residence at Washington awaiting the funeral cere- 
mony.^ Such a mark of respect was never before granted 
to a person not of the army. 

The Wisconsin Republican Association at Washington, 
the Milwaukee chamber of commerce, Milwaukee Bar As- 
sociation, the various circuit court bars, the bar of the Wis- 
consin supreme court, the Merchants' Association, Grand 
Army posts, regimental and scores of other associations and 
societies met to adopt resolutions of respect and pronounce 
eulogiums in Carpenter's honor. These panegyrics were 
not confined to Wisconsin, but were the spontaneous offer- 
ings of more than a dozen states. They were almost with- 

1 In almost every neighborhood in Wisconsin may be seen a large group 
of the " solid twenty-five," with Carpenter in the midst, and under them 
the words, "True to jNIatt." 

2 Carpenter once expressed that after his death, and before burial, he 
wished to have his body watched by artillerymen. General Sherman, 
with no knowledge of his dead friend's de^;ire, though he had never done 
such a thing before, issued an order which carried that wish into effect. 



582 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

out number, showed a high order of talent and a deep vein 
of sorrow, and came from the hearts of the foremost men of 
the nation. To quote them in cxtcnso here would be impos- 
sible. 

George F. Edmunds said: " Senator Carpenter was true- 
hearted and brave. His arguments, both in the senate and 
the courts, were unsurpassed for learning, logic and elo- 
quence." 

Hannibal Hamlin described him as " one of the ablest men 
of the generation; genial, kind, great." 

Allen G. Thurman, with suffused eyes, said: "Carpenter 
was a great lawyer, a far-seeing statesitian, and a genial, 
whole-souled man. He was without personal enemies; the 
amiability of his temper was only rivaled by the brilliancy of 
his intellect." 

David Davis said: "Wisconsin can not replace her Car- 
penter. He was a lawj'^er, orator and statesman of the very 
highest mold." 

Russell Sage declared Carpenter to be " the pleasantest 
man he ever met, and the greatest orator of modern times." 

Roscoe Conkling pronounced him the " ablest constitu- 
tional lawyer in the United States." 

U. S. Grant made a comparison : " Roscoe Conkling is 
perhaps the greatest statesman in America. If he is. Car- 
penter is certainly next and the first orator." 

Chief Justice E. G. Ryan said Carpenter was " a man of 
profound general ability, and one of the greatest lawyers in 
the world." 

If this work were to make any pretense to profundity, a 
metaphysical analysis of Carpenter's qualities would be en- 
tered upon to prove that the estimates of his greatness here 
and there brought forward, instead of being unjustly large, 
are rather unjustly small. For a homely argument it is safe 
to assume that pigmies never retain an equal hold upon the 
populace in triumph or defeat. 

Some men are great only by association. The people 



TRIBUTES. 583 

take no note of them until the illogical and inexplicable 
fortunes of politics have put upon them the magnitude and 
consequence of office. Such, whenever separated from their 
official robes and the insignia of artificial elevation, disap- 
pear among the multitude like snow-flakes in the ocean, 
never after to be mourned or mentioned. 

Carpenter was not of that class. His sudden transition 
from citizenship to senatorship was not violent or incon- 
gruous. It added honor to the state he represented and the 
distinguished bod}^ in which he sat, but added nothing to 
himself. As a law-giver, patriot and tribune he had already 
won his wa}'- to the highest position in the public estimation, 
and any election of that sort was regarded as merely a willing 
tribute to his greatness rather than any particular adorn- 
ment of or addition to it which would disappear or be trans- 
ferred to another at the end of his term. 

Subsequent events, though they were bitter draughts, 
firmly establish the correctness of this measurement of Car- 
penter's dimensions. He who rides on the high tide of suc- 
cess and triumph is never wanting for swarms of courtiers 
and admirers, ready on bended knee to do him every honor. 
But finally, when disaster shall overtake him and cut oft' the 
rich drippings of an overflowing purse or of federal patronage, 
then will the crowd, if he have not in his make-up intrinsic 
merit and natural greatness, desert him in a stampede to his 
successor, as vultures, in search of other carrion, desert the 
carcass as soon as the last morsel has been stripped from its 
bones. 

As the storm is the only good proof of the mariner's skill, 
so misfortune and defeat are the only crucibles that can put 
the utmost test to greatness, popularity and friendship. He 
who can rise from disaster and rout with all his friends around 
him in undiminished enthusiasm and devotion, is truly great, 
and a powerful leader of the people. Thus, as we have ob- 
served, Carpenter prospered in misfortune and gathered 



584 LIFE OF CARPENTER. 

Strength with defeat. This is the rich experience of the few — 
vouchsafed alone to undoubted giants. 

So, too, as reverses and calamities do prove the public 
affection and regard, death do<h confirm and canonize them 
for all time. When Carpenter died, the nation mourned. 
The manner of death is the judgment of life. 

AN EPITAPH. 

Shortly after Carpenter died, a suggestion that a monu- 
ment be erected to his memory by popular subscription 
sprung spontaneously from the people of Wisconsin. Meet- 
ings were held, and a central association was formed called 
the Carpenter Memorial Association, with headquarters at 
Milwaukee, to receive subscriptions for a public monument, 
for which, just before his death, Jeremiah S. Black composed 
the following epitaph: 

Matthew Hale Carpenter. 

the most accomplished orator of his day and generation, he 
addressed no audience that he did not charm, and touched 
no subject that he did not adorn. first among senators 
and foremost of statesmen, he was mighty in word 
and in deed. true to his country and his con- 
science, his public career was as stainless as 
it was lofty. he was worthy to stand as 
he did, at the head of the legal pro- 
fession, because he was profound- 
ly versed in its learning, a 
thorough master of its practical 
rules and irresistibly powerful in fo- 
rensic debate. yet his family and all his 
associates, including the rivals he surpassed, 
are apt to overlook his shining talents as they 
recall the generous kindness of his heart; and admi- 
ration of the great jurlst, the eloquent advocate, the 
brilliant senator, the matchless political leader, is lost 
to them and swallowed up in personal affection for the man. 



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